Shooting of reporter in Iraq was justified, U.S. report says - Yahoo! News
Shooting of reporter in Iraq was justified, U.S. report says - Yahoo! News: "BAGHDAD,
Iraq - A U.S. military investigation of the June 24 shooting death of Yasser Salihee, a Knight Ridder Iraqi correspondent, confirmed that he was killed by an American soldier and then left dead in his car, splattered with blood and shattered glass in the middle of the street.
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The 3rd Infantry Division's report concluded the shooting was justified because the soldiers thought Salihee could have been a suicide bomber or attempting to run them over as he approached an intersection in western Baghdad.
An investigator, Maj. Andre Vige, spent about a month examining the incident and found that the shooter was acting within the Army's rules of engagement, a conclusion that was affirmed by his superiors.
The neighborhood where the shooting took place, Amariyah, is known as an insurgent hotspot in Baghdad. The day before Salihee was shot, a U.S. patrol was shot at by a sniper in the area, and troops there operate with the constant threat of car bombs. Indeed, government officials in Baghdad have said insurgents now control parts of that area.
Salihee, a soft-spoken 30-year-old doctor and Knight Ridder correspondent, was on his way to get gasoline for his car to take his toddler daughter to the swimming pool. It was his day off."
Iraq - A U.S. military investigation of the June 24 shooting death of Yasser Salihee, a Knight Ridder Iraqi correspondent, confirmed that he was killed by an American soldier and then left dead in his car, splattered with blood and shattered glass in the middle of the street.
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The 3rd Infantry Division's report concluded the shooting was justified because the soldiers thought Salihee could have been a suicide bomber or attempting to run them over as he approached an intersection in western Baghdad.
An investigator, Maj. Andre Vige, spent about a month examining the incident and found that the shooter was acting within the Army's rules of engagement, a conclusion that was affirmed by his superiors.
The neighborhood where the shooting took place, Amariyah, is known as an insurgent hotspot in Baghdad. The day before Salihee was shot, a U.S. patrol was shot at by a sniper in the area, and troops there operate with the constant threat of car bombs. Indeed, government officials in Baghdad have said insurgents now control parts of that area.
Salihee, a soft-spoken 30-year-old doctor and Knight Ridder correspondent, was on his way to get gasoline for his car to take his toddler daughter to the swimming pool. It was his day off."
posted by Blackgold at 3:33 PM
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