Subject:
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Re: Hotel Palestine
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Tue, 8 Apr 2003 20:18:43 GMT
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Viewed:
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181 times
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Pedro Silva wrote:
> http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/04/08/sprj.irq.hotel/index.html
>
> Quote:
>
> "U.S. military officials said U.S. forces fired on the Palestine Hotel in
> response to sniper fire from various floors. It is not clear if the
> explosion was the result of the U.S. response."
>
> Comments to this:
>
> a) the hotel was across the river from the US forces, which happened to be
> *tanks* - those snipers must have had powerful guns, to harm those crews!
> b) "unclear", my @$$. European network EuroNews has shown images of a M1A1
> tank firing roughly towards the camera, and one second later a big shake on
> the hotel. Coincidence?
> c) if warning was given to journalists when the Ministry of (dis)Information
> was to be hit, how come none was issued now that the journalist were "at base"?
>
> Absurd. And grotesque.
>
> Whomever identified that hotel as a target, that person clearly has no
> capability to foresee the consequences of his actions. Wouldn't any army be
> better off expurged of such incompetents?
> "Support the troops"... yeah, right. You might start to do that providing
> them with some good sense!
The leadership of the army knew that the hotel was full
of journalists, and avoided making it an explicit target.
However I don't think that every front line soldier is given
a map of every building and told which to shoot and which not to.
They are trained to react according to rules, one of which goes
like this:
If you are fired upon, you are free to return fire.
There's no qualifiers in there. It doesn't say check for journalists
and only shoot back if no one is in the way.
I don't think it's reasonable to ask someone who is being fired
at (yes they may be in a tank, but most of the time the tank
commander and driver's heads are out of the tank) to check a
map, try to figure out which building is which, and only then
return fire.
Sure in the relaxed quiet atmosphere of the planning room
targets are given some thought, and targets like this would
be avoided. On the front lines in the heat of a battle while
taking incoming fire, the soldiers are trained not to think.
They are practically 'programmed' to immediately fall back
on their training without thinking. That is what saves their
lives.
The journalists knew when they decided to stay in Baghdad that
they were choosing to stay in a *war zone*. They weren't
tricked or duped or forced to stay. Bad things happen to
people ion war zones.
I feel bad for the people killed and injured (and their
families and friends) through no fault of their own. But
I also don't see anyway to blame this on the front-line
soldier.
-Kyle
--
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Kyle J. McDonald (o o) Systems Support Engineer
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Message has 2 Replies:
 | | Re: Hotel Palestine
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| (...) I won't dispute that the leadership knew of the hotel, not that it did not want reporters killed. I ask you though, "to avoid making it an explicit target", isn't it implying it can very well be an "implicit" one, whatever that may be? (...) I (...) (22 years ago, 8-Apr-03, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
| | | Re: Hotel Palestine
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| (...) First Al Cezirah Baghdad office (bombing, 1 cameraman died, three injured), then Abu Dabi TV Baghdad office (tank fire, no causalties), then Hotel Palestine (tank fire, two died, three injured). All in yesterday, all in just a single day. I'm (...) (22 years ago, 9-Apr-03, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Hotel Palestine
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| (URL) military officials said U.S. forces fired on the Palestine Hotel in response to sniper fire from various floors. It is not clear if the explosion was the result of the U.S. response." Comments to this: a) the hotel was across the river from (...) (22 years ago, 8-Apr-03, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
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