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| Iraq |
| Attack on television station condemned |
| 2003-03-27 |
| Questions were being raised last night about the legality of the bombing of Iraqi television's main station in Baghdad, an attack that appears to have been triggered by Washington's determination to pull the plugs on a vital propaganda weapon of Saddam Hussein's regime. Amnesty International said the bombing could be a breach of the Geneva convention. "The bombing of a television station, simply because it is being used for the purposes of propaganda, cannot be condoned. It is a civilian object, and thus protected under international humanitarian law," it said. There are times during PBS Pledge Week that I wish the Air Force would drop an E-bomb on Channel 11. "To justify such an attack coalition forces would have to show that the TV station was being used for military purposes and that the attack properly balanced the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated with the incidental risk to civilian life," said Claudio Cordone, Amnesty's director for international law. Thanks for that, Claudio. What's that "international law" stuff again? The International Federation of Journalists described the attack as an attempt at censorship. "I think there should be a clear international investigation into whether or not this bombing violates the Geneva convention," Aidan White, its general secretary, said. These guys are serious! I haven't seen this degree of obtuseness and pedantic mopery since, well, freshman orientation. "We have every reason to believe this is an act of censorship against media that US politicians and military strategists don't like," he added Your name, again, General? The US defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, said this week that the aim was to end the Iraqi regime's "ability to communicate". Targets including Iraqi government communications and satellite links were described by Jim Wilkinson, a spokesman for US central command, as "key regime command-and-control assets". Iraqi satellite TV, which broadcasts outside Iraq, temporarily went off the air while Iraq's domestic state-run television service, resumed broadcasting with a weaker signal. The defence secretary, Geoff Hoon, has said he personally scrutinises targeting. His officials say that under the law of armed conflict only military objectives and combatants can be targeted but "something that is normally civilian in use that is being used for military purposes may be a legitimate target". "Now kindly shut up, you yapping gits."· |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #9 propaganda is part of warfare. knock it out i say. |
| Posted by: glen 2003-03-28 00:36:56 |
| #8 ABC is in New York. Peter Jennings is in New York. We don't want to bomb New York. However, Peter Jennings is Canadian. Maybe we can get his visa cancelled. ABC in general, and Peter Jennings in particular, leaves a nasty taste in my mouth. I'm glad Jennings wasn't an "embed" - it would be hard to keep the "long knives" from being brushed across his arrogant throat. Jennings and the rest of the leftist "mobocracy" should have to do latrine duty in Mogadisiu when this is over. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2003-03-27 15:38:12 |
| #7 Can the Air Force please bomb ABC, preferably when Peter Jennings is on the air. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2003-03-27 13:15:49 |
| #6 Attack of type blah on islamic blah condemned internationaly by blah blah, intentional murder of innocent blah blah blah, arab street blah blah, great satan blah blah blah. (Aljazeera news chief) Ok boys, I outlined the story, just wait for an event and fill it in. |
| Posted by: flash91 2003-03-27 12:57:56 |
| #5 In an AP article from 3/25, they said that 'State television carried what it described as a message from him to tribal and clan leaders, saying, "Consider this to be the command of faith and jihad and fight them."' Using the TV station to issue commands to fight the coalition was probably something like a strategic error... |
| Posted by: Reed 2003-03-27 09:20:56 |
| #4 It's a government-owned tv station When you are at war, everything that the government owns and runs becomes a target. |
| Posted by: Steve 2003-03-27 09:08:07 |
| #3 I can put an end to this debate very quickly: every time Sammy appears on the tube he is secretly sending messages to his RG & and the other thugs (note the winking and mustache movements). Case resolved. Good targeting fellas. Next. |
| Posted by: RW 2003-03-27 00:55:33 |
| #2 When you've got the ability to strike a specific target at exactly the time you intend to, it allows a much more detailed sequence of events. We didn't take it down until it was the last uncompromised means of communications. |
| Posted by: Dishman 2003-03-27 00:31:14 |
| #1 ABC is in New York. Peter Jennings is in New York. We don't want to bomb New York. However, Peter Jennings is Canadian. Maybe we can get his visa cancelled. ABC in general, and Peter Jennings in particular, leaves a nasty taste in my mouth. I'm glad Jennings wasn't an "embed" - it would be hard to keep the "long knives" from being brushed across his arrogant throat. Jennings and the rest of the leftist "mobocracy" should have to do latrine duty in Mogadisiu when this is over. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 3/27/2003 3:38:12 PM |