US military 'brutalised' journalists

US military 'brutalised' journalists

News agency demands inquiry after American forces in Iraq allegedly treated
camera crew as enemy personnel

Luke Harding in Baghdad
Tuesday January 13, 2004
The Guardian

The international news agency Reuters has made a formal complaint to the
Pentagon following the "wrongful" arrest and apparent "brutalisation" of
three of its staff this month by US troops in Iraq.
The complaint followed an incident in the town of Falluja when American
soldiers fired at two Iraqi cameramen and a driver from the agency while
they were filming the scene of a helicopter crash.

The US military initially claimed that the Reuters journalists were "enemy
personnel" who had opened fire on US troops and refused to release them for
72 hours.

Although Reuters has not commented publicly, it is understood that the
journalists were "brutalised and intimidated" by US soldiers, who put bags
over their heads, told them they would be sent to Guantanamo Bay, and
whispered: "Let's have sex."

At one point during the interrogation, according to the family of one of the
staff members, a US soldier shoved a shoe into the mouth one of the Iraqis.

The US troops, from the 82nd Airborne Division, based in Falluja, also made
the blindfolded journalists stand for hours with their arms raised and their
palms pressed against the cell wall.

"They were brutalised, terrified and humiliated for three days," one source
said. "It was pretty grim stuff. There was mental and physical abuse."

He added: "It makes you wonder what happens to ordinary Iraqis."

The US military has so far refused to apologise and has bluntly told Reuters
to "drop" its complaint. Major General Charles Swannack, the commander of
the 82nd Airborne Division, claimed that two US soldiers had provided sworn
evidence that they had come under fire. He admitted, however, that soldiers
sometimes had to make "snap judgments".

"More often than not they are right," he said.

On January 2 Reuters' Baghdad-based cameraman Salem Ureibi, Falluja stringer
Ahmed Mohammed Hussein al-Badrani and driver Sattar Jabar al-Badrani turned
up at the crash site where a US Kiowa Warrior helicopter had just been shot
down, killing one soldier.

The journalists were all wearing bulletproof jackets clearly marked "press".
They drove off after US soldiers who were securing the scene opened fire on
their Mercedes, but were arrested shortly afterwards.

The soldiers also detained a fourth Iraqi, working for the American network
NBC. No weapons were found, the US military admitted.

Last night the nephew of veteran Reuters driver and latterly cameraman Mr
Ureibi said that US troops had forced his uncle to strip naked and had
ordered him to put his shoe in his mouth.

"He protested that he was a journalist but they stuck a shoe in his mouth
anyway. They also hurt his leg. One of the soldiers told him: 'If you don't
shut up we'll fuck you.'"

He added: "His treatment was very shameful. He's very sad. He has also had
hospital treatment because of his leg."

Last August a US soldier shot dead another Reuters cameraman, Mazen Dana,
after mistaking his camera for a rocket launcher while he filmed outside a
Baghdad prison.

An internal US investigation later cleared him of wrongdoing. During the war
last April another of the agency's cameramen, Ukrainian Taras Protswuk, was
killed after a US tank fired a shell directly into his room in the Palestine
Hotel in Baghdad, from where he had been filming.

Last night Simon Walker, a spokesman at Reuters head office in London,
confirmed that the agency had made a formal complaint to the Pentagon last
Friday.

He said: "We have also complained to the US military. We have complained
about the detention [of our staff] and their treatment in detention. We hope
it will be dealt with expeditiously."

A spokeswoman for the US military's coalition press and information centre
in Baghdad hung up when the Guardian asked her to comment.

The top US military spokesman in Iraq, Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, later
admitted that they had received a formal complaint and that there was an
on-going investigation into the incident.

Journalists based in Baghdad have expressed concern that the US military is
likely to treat other media employees in Iraq as targets.