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| Iraq |
| U.S. troops thought camera was RPG, military says |
| 2003-08-18 |
| The U.S. military acknowledged on Sunday that its troops in Iraq had "engaged" a Reuters cameraman, saying they had thought his camera was a rocket propelled grenade launcher. "Army soldiers engaged an individual they thought was aiming an RPG at them. It turned out to be a Reuters cameraman," Navy Capt. Frank Thorp, a spokesman for the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, told Reuters in Washington. This is one of the dangers that the Combat Camera units are warned about. You’re kneeling with your ENG camera (RPG) on your shoulder and looking through the viewfinder (sight) at the subject (target) you are taping (aiming at). If they don’t know who and where you are, you are at risk. Cameraman Mazen Dana, 43, was shot and killed on Sunday while filming near a U.S.-run prison on the outskirts of Baghdad. Witnesses said he was shot by soldiers on an American tank. Under fire in a hostile area, they saw somebody pointing something at them and responded, correctly in my view. |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #16 Murat if a possable RPG is pointed in your direction you have about 2 secounds to kill him before he kills you. |
| Posted by: raptor 2003-8-19 9:06:20 AM |
| #15 Yo Ed, Seen from the pictures released just before this cameraman was shot his camera had not a telescopic zoomlens, to me this was a typical case of myopia. I don’t know if you are familiar with the RPG, it takes a lot of imagination to confuse it with a camera. Image:  |
| Posted by: Murat 2003-8-19 3:27:35 AM |
| #14 Yo, Murat. What snellenr said... |
| Posted by: tu3031 2003-8-18 10:19:50 PM |
| #13 ED >> You're absolutely right. You don't have time when someone's pointing a shoulder mounted piece of equipment at you to identify it. The soldiers were in the right, the reporter in the wrong. Besides, I think Reuter's should recieve a statement of charges (a bill) for the 3-5 rounds wasted on him. I have no love for any reporters. They kiss your a$$ while there's no shooting, but secretly hope filming you or your men getting shot dead in front of them. How else do you think they'll get their "photo-journalistic" awards from the rest of the media world? I'm just sad he didn't have a buddy close to him holding his battery pack. Can't say I didn't dance a little jig for him though. Also, the other day in a FOX News article it read "Iraqi guerillas killed 3 US soldiers today. Elsewhere 2 Iraqi civilians were killed after attacking US soldiers." So when thet kill us they're "guerillas", but when they attack us and we kill them they are "civilians". WTF? |
| Posted by: Paul 2003-8-18 8:24:48 PM |
| #12 Ha! I like that comment. Mind if I steal it? |
| Posted by: True R. Spence 2003-8-18 6:34:50 PM |
| #11 Question: "What do you call a Palestinian with an RPG in his right hand, an AK-47 in his left, and a camera in his pocket?" Answer: A photojournalist. |
| Posted by: borgboy 2003-8-18 5:52:05 PM |
| #10 Ed I agree with you, these cameras can really look menacing from a distance and when you get attacked every day you might not check and doublecheck. I'd recommend one of these small state of the art Sony camcorders. Fits in a palm and quality is only slightly less than that of these huge camera monsters. Just nobody will mistake them for a weapon. In a combat zone, sounds like the thing to use imho. |
| Posted by: True German Ally 2003-8-18 5:14:46 PM |
| #9 Murat, as a former soldier of 11 years, I can say quite honestly that if a camera has a telephoto lens, particularly the huge ones that newsies love to use, it's EASY to mistake it for a weapon of some sort. I know, I've MADE that mistake. Long black tubular object (pointed in my direction) = weapon aimed at me, life in possible danger, no time to spare, assume the worst, FIRE AT IT! It's that simple, Murat. Ask a turkish soldier who has been in combat, and whom you trust to answer you honestly. Any soldier who is more concerned with his own life than that of the enemy will tell you the same. But a reporter's not an enemy? Sorry. If they're on the battlefield, they're either enemy or ally. There's NO room on a life battlefield for neutrals unless they're wearing a Red Cross/Crescent. A battlefield's already dangerous and confusing enough, we don't need idiots wandering around it saying "Wait! You can't shoot me! I'm a neutral party!" The time you need to identify a neutral is the time someone ELSE can use to identify YOU and blow you to hell. I'm generous, but not THAT generous, Murat.. I'm not going to die so that some reporter can get a better story. Sgt. Ed Becerra 2nd Armored Cavalry, Retired (Medical) |
| Posted by: Ed Becerra 2003-8-18 5:01:30 PM |
| #8 He's a Palistinian with a long record of biased reporting from Judea... oh excuse me... 'that part of Jordan called the West Bank' |
| Posted by: DANEgerus 2003-8-18 2:47:00 PM |
| #7 Oh geez snellenr... I almost choked on a raisinette!! |
| Posted by: Raphael 2003-8-18 2:33:18 PM |
| #6 It's not called "Combat Journalism" for nothing. _______________borgboy sez he'd have been better off photographing butterfies... |
| Posted by: borgboy 2003-8-18 1:43:20 PM |
| #5 That must have been quite an epidemic of myopic Turks during the 1915 Armenian cellphone rollout... |
| Posted by: snellenr 2003-8-18 11:40:30 AM |
| #4 Welcome back, Murat! Maybe you can help us show the trolls some semblance of a debate now! Good to see you again. |
| Posted by: Dar 2003-8-18 11:29:19 AM |
| #3 Where have you been, Murat, old chap? We have been scouring the country with search and rescue teams looking for you. Safe and sound now we presume? |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2003-8-18 11:20:56 AM |
| #2 Murat, welcome back. We missed ya - we promise to shoot straighter the next time around. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2003-8-18 11:16:27 AM |
| #1 Well, not a big deal. I wouldn’t call it a big issue as it is easy to mistake a camera for RPG, especially if you are from a country where cellular phones of black people are mistaken for UZI’s . A classical example of myopia easily to prevent sent some opticians! |
| Posted by: Murat 2003-8-18 11:12:40 AM |