Inquest finds british Iraq reporter's death unlawful; calls for trial of US troops

[buttmunch]

The daughter of ITN reporter Terry Lloyd has said his death in Iraq "amounts to murder".

Chelsey Lloyd was speaking after a coroner found that Mr Lloyd was "unlawfully killed" three years ago.

Oxfordshire Assistant Deputy Coroner Andrew Walker said he would write to the Director of Public Prosecutions to call for the US perpetrators to be brought to justice.

Concluding the inquest Mr Walker praised the dedication and professionalism of Mr Lloyd and his colleagues and said no blame should be put on to ITN News over its preparations before the mission to Iraq.

Summing up the inquest, the coroner said: "It is only now that the sequence of events that led to this tragedy can be discovered, for a tragedy it is when the lives of innocent civilians are lost.

"I am certain that the world is a lesser place following their sad death."

Derby-born Lloyd died on March 22, 2003 near the Shatt Al Basra Bridge in southern Iraq after his four-man team got caught in the crossfire between American and Iraqi forces.

His body was recovered and returned to his family in Cuddington, Buckinghamshire, while the remains of his Lebanese interpreter Hussein Osman were later found and buried.

French cameraman Fred Nerac is still officially classed as missing.

Belgian cameraman Daniel Demoustier survived to tell the coroner how "all hell broke loose" on the road to Basra.

The eight day-long Oxford inquest heard how Lloyd and his team had crossed from Kuwait into Iraq as one of ITN's few unilateral teams, where journalists work independently of the armed forces.

They crossed over the front line in the fierce battle for Basra, and ran into Iraqi soldiers.

Ballistics expert Dr Thomas Warlow confirmed in the inquest that Lloyd was first hit by an Iraqi bullet fired from a mounted machine gun on the pick-up truck, which he could have survived with rapid medical treatment.

But he was then hit in the head by an American bullet as he was taken for medical treatment in a civilian minibus, which killed him outright.

http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/...546907,00.html

A coroner has recorded a verdict of unlawful killing on ITN reporter Terry Lloyd, who died in southern Iraq.
An inquest heard Mr Lloyd, originally from Derby, was hit by a US bullet near Basra in March 2003. His interpreter died and his cameraman is missing.

The coroner in Oxford said the US troops should not have shot at the vehicle taking the already wounded Mr Lloyd, 50, away from the battlefield.

The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) said the killing was a "war crime".

Mr Lloyd was covering the British and American invasion of Iraq as a "unilateral" journalist, rather than "embedded" with the military.

Oxfordshire Assistant Deputy Coroner Andrew Walker said he would be writing to the attorney general asking for him to investigate the possibility of bringing charges against those responsible.

The NUJ's broadcasting organiser, Paul McLaughlin, immediately called on the British authorities to press charges against the US soldiers involved in his death.

Mr Lloyd and his three colleagues were caught up in a firefight between US and Iraqi forces near the Shatt Al Basra Bridge on 22 March 2003.

His Lebanese interpreter, Hussein Osman, was also killed and French cameraman Fred Nerac's body has never been found. He is missing, presumed dead.

The ITN crew's only survivor, Belgian cameraman Daniel Demoustier, told the inquest in Oxford: "I was absolutely sure I was going to die, I was 100% sure."

After an eight-day inquest Mr Walker cleared ITN of any blame for Mr Lloyd's death and praised him and his team for their professionalism and dedication.

He said: "I am certain that the world is a lesser place following their sad death.

"Their professionalism and dedication in the face of danger is and can only be admired by those they left behind."

Mr Walker said he was convinced Mr Lloyd and his team had been properly trained and prepared for their perilous but important mission.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6046950.stm

The families and ITV made some pretty harsh statements, calling the marines 'trigger happy cowboys', etc. Who wants to bet Bush pulls the old 'I feel your pain, now shut the fuck up' line?