WAR DOES NOT GIVE A FREE PASS TO MURDERING JOURNALISTS


Today, according to El Mundo, a conservative Spanish newpaper, The Spanish Supreme Court unaminously held that Spain did have jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute the murder of Spanish cameraman Jose Couso by the American military.

Jose Couso Permuy was one of the two journalists killed on April 8, 2003, when a tank fired on the Palestian Hotel in Bagdah, which the U.S. military knew was filled with journalists and supposedly not be fired upon. The American media attempted to portray the tank firing on the Palestian Hotel as unfortunate consequence of war. The complaint was originally filed in October of 2003, but the Spanish authorities put aside the investigation under pressure from the United States.

The family of the dead journalist have fought hard, characterizing the act, as a war crime for it was a deliberate act against the (unembedded) press. Mr. Couso's mother, María Isabel Permuy, marched with Cindy Sheehan on Washington, D.C. while his brother Javier Couso Permuy kept up pressure claiming that there is no free pass to murder jounalists during times of war.

According to the web site IRAQ: Journalists in Danger (http://www.cpj.org/Briefings/Iraq/Iraq_danger.html) 89 journalists have been killed in Iraq since the invastion of 2003. Compare this with the 66 journalists killed in Vietnam, and 69 killed during WW II. There must be real consequenses for those that target journalists if this is to end.