Video clip part 1 of 5 of Adrienne Kinne, former military intelligence officer speaks out
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Justice for Dead Journalists
By Amy Goodman, King Features Syndicate
Posted May 15, 2008
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A military whistle-blower has come forward with information that contradicts the government's official story about the deaths of two journalists.
More than five years have passed since the invasion of Iraq, since President Bush stood under the "Mission Accomplished" banner on that aircraft carrier. While these fifth anniversaries got some notice, another did not: the shelling of the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad by a U.S. Army tank on April 8, 2003. The tank attack killed two unembedded journalists, Reuters cameraman Taras Protsyuk and José Couso, a cameraman for the Spanish television network Telecinco. Couso recorded his own death. He was filming from the balcony and caught on tape the distant tank as it rotated its turret and fired on the hotel.
Taras Protsyuk (1967 - 2003)Photojournalist. The Ukranianian born Protsyuk worked as a cameraman for the Reuters News Agency at there Warsaw, Poland, bureau. He began his news career for Reuters in 1993, later covering stories from the war in Afghanistan on terrorism, to overthrowing and arrest of President Slobodan Milosevic ...
A Spanish court has charged three U.S. servicemen with murder, but the U.S. government refuses to hand over the accused soldiers. The story might have ended there, just another day of violence and death in Iraq, were it not for a young U.S. military intelligence veteran who has just decided to blow the whistle.
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Spanish cameraman Jose Couso was one of the two journalists killed in the attack |
Adrienne Kinne is a former Army sergeant who worked in military intelligence for 10 years, from 1994 to 2004. Trained in Arabic, she worked in the Army translating intercepted communications. She told me in an interview this week that she saw a target list that included the Palestine Hotel. She knew that it housed journalists, since she had intercepted calls from the Palestine Hotel between journalists there and their families and friends back home (illegally and unconstitutionally, she thought).
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| democracynow.org |
She said the officer in charge was Warrant Officer John Berry.
Listen to Javier Couso, the brother of Jose
Kinne's account directly contradicts the official line of the U.S. government. On May 2, 2003, Colin Powell, then secretary of state and a former general in the Army, visited Spain. He said of the Palestine Hotel: "We knew about the hotel. We knew that it was a hotel where journalists were located, and others, and it is for that reason it was not attacked during any phase of the aerial campaign."
If Powell was telling the truth, then why was the hotel included on the list of targets that Kinne says she read in a secure e-mail? Or was he just parsing words by saying it wasn't a target during the "aerial campaign"? Kinne also revealed that the military was spying on nongovernmental organizations like Doctors Without Borders and the International Red Cross, listening in on these groups -- also illegal -- and justifying the pretense on the grounds that they might by chance report on a cache of weapons of mass destruction, or their satellite phone might get stolen by terrorists. She also received and translated a fax from the Iraqi National Congress, the CIA-funded group of Iraqi exiles who were funneling false information about WMDs to the U.S. government in order to bolster the case for war. The intel was considered high-value and was sent directly to the White House.
Kinne has shown great courage and taken great risks to bring these revelations to light, to blow the whistle. She follows in the tradition of Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked the Pentagon Papers during the Vietnam War. Ellsberg has called on government workers to blow the whistle:
"It's a great, great risk to have the amount of secrecy we do have right now that enabled the president to lie us into this war and is heading us toward a war that will be even more disastrous in Iran. And this is the time for unauthorized disclosures, which are the only kind that are going to tell us the truth about what's happening, and they should be done, in my opinion, on a scale that will indeed risk or even ensure that the person doing it will be identified."
The brother of José Couso, Javier, has tirelessly pursued justice for his brother, traveling globally to make the story known and pushing the case in the Spanish courts. Kinne's revelations created a stir in Spain, where the jurisdiction of the case against the three U.S. Army members is being challenged. The video of Kinne's disclosures was downloaded and quickly translated for presentation the next day to the court in Madrid.
The Bush White House, we now know, used retired generals with ties to the Pentagon and to military contractors to deceive the U.S. public. Unembedded journalists in Iraq were a thorn in the side of the Pentagon spin masters. Might that April 8 attack been a message to them? Thanks to former Army Sgt. Adrienne Kinne, we may be closer to finding out.
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213 journalists and media assistants killed since the start of fighting in Iraq in March 2003, two still missing, 14 are kidnapped
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Two other journalists are still missing:
 Frédéric Nérac of ITV News (UK), since 22 March 2003 |  Isam Hadi Muhsin Al-Shumary Suedostmedia, 15 August 2004 |
159 Journalists killed 
4.05.2008 - Sirwa Abdel Wahab, Independant 25.04.2008 - Jassem Al-Battat, Al-Nakhil 27.02.2008 - Chihab Al-Tamimi , Iraqi Journalists Union 12.02.2008 - Haidar Mijwit Hamdan, Association of Young Iraqi Journalists 28.01.2008 - Alaa Abdulkarim Al-Fartoosi, Al-Forat TV 14.12.2007 - Ali Shafeya Al-Moussawi, www.aliveinbaghdad.org 27.10.2007 - Shehab Mohammed al-Hitti, Baghdad News 14.10.2007 - Salih Saif Aldin, The Washington Post 23.09.2007 - Jawad Al-Daami, Al-Baghdadiya 20.09.2007 - Mouhannad Ghanem Ahmed, Radio Dar Al Salam 03.09.2007 - Amer Al-Rashidy, Al-Iraqiya 27.07.2007 - Adnane al-Safi, Al-Anwar 17.07.2007 - Mustafa Darwich Germayani, Kirkouk Alyoum 17.07.2007 - Majid Mohammed, Kirkouk Alyoum 13.07.2007 - Khaled W. Hassan, New York Times 12.07.2007 - Namir Noor-Eldeene, Reuters 28.06.2007 - Louaï Souleimane, Nineveh 27.06.2007 - Sarmad Hamdi Al-Hassani, Bagdad TV 26.06.2007 - Hamid Abd Sarhane, Irakioun 25.06.2007 - Rahim Al-Maliki, Al-Iraqiya 11.06.2007 - Aref Ali Falih, Aswat al-Iraq 14.06.2007 - Filaih Wadi Mijthab, al-Sabah 13.06.2007 - Sahar Hussein Haydari, Aswat al-Iraq 08.06.2007 - Mohammed Hilal Karji , Bagdad TV 01.06.2007 - Saif Fakhri, APTN 30.05.2007 - Nizar Al-Radhi, Aswat Al-Irak 29.05.2007 - Abdel-Rahmane Al-Issaoui, Independant 26.05.2007 - Aidan Abdallah Al-Jamiji, Kirkouk TV 28.05.2007 - Mahmoud Hassib Al-Kassab , Al-Hawadith 20.05.2007 - Ali Khalil, Al-Zaman 17.05.2007 - Alaa Uldeen Aziz, ABC 17.05.2007 - Saif Laith Yousuf, ABC 9.05.2007 - Imad Obaid, Al-Iraq Al-Ghad, Al-Raad 9.05.2007 - Nibras Abdel-Razak Obaid, Al-Iraq Al-Ghad, Al-Raad 9.05.2007 - Raad Mutasha al-Issawi, Al-Iraq Al-Ghad, Al-Raad 6.05.2007 - Dmitry Chebotayev, Newsweek 12.04.2007 - Iman Yussef Abdallah , The sound of Mossul 06.04.2007 - Othman al-Mashhadani, Al-Watan 06.04.2007 - Khamail Khalaf, Radio Free Europe 05.04.2007 - Thaer Ahmed Jabr, Baghdad TV 19.03.2007 - Hamid al-Duleimi, al-Nahrain 16.03.2007 - Hussein al Jaburi, al-Safir 07.03.2007 - Yussef Sabri, Biladi TV 04.03.2007 - Mohan Hussein al-Dhahr, al-Mishrak 03.03.2007 - Jamal Riyah Al Zoubaidi, As-Safir 20.02.2007 - Abderrazak Hashim Al-Khakani, Jumhuriyat Al Iraq 19.02.2007 - Hussein Al Zubaydi, al-Ahali 28.01.2007 - Munjid Al-Tumaimi, Freelance photographer 15.01.2007 - Falah Khalaf Al Diyali, Al Saha 14.01.2007 - Yassin Aid Assef, Al Sabah 05.01.2007 - Ahmed Hadi Naji, Occasional cameraman, AP 12.01.2007 - Khoudr Younes al-Obaidi, Freelance 29.12.2006 - Akil Sarhane, Al-Riyadia 12.12.2006 - Aswan Ahmed Lutfallah, APTN 04.12.2006 - Nabil Ibrahim Al-Dulaimi, Radio Dijla 22.11.2006 - Raad Jaafar Hamadi, Al Sabah 20.11.2006 - Walid Hassan, Al-Sharkiya 15.11.2006 - Luma Abdallah Al Karkhi, Al-Dustour 02.11.2006 - Qussai Abass, Tariq Al Shaab 15.11.2006 - Fadia Mohammed Ali, Al Massar (daily newspaper) 13.11.2006 - Mohammed Al Ban, Al Sharkiya (TV) 3.11.2006 - Ahmed Al Rachid, Al-Sharkiya (TV) 31.10.2006 - Abdelmajid Ismael Khalil, Freelance journalist 29.10.2006 - Nakshin Hama Rashid, Atiaf 25.10.2006 - Saad Mehdi Shalash, Rayat Al Arab 16.10.2006 - Ali Halil, Al Iraqiya 13.10.2006 - Raid Qais Al Shammari, Al Iraqiya, Sawt Al Irak radio station 12.10.2006 - Nawfal Al Shumari, Deputy director, Al Shaabiya TV 12.10.2006 - Abderrahim Nasrallah Al Shumari, Station director, Al Shaabiya TV 10.10.2006 - Azad Mohammed Hassan, Dar Al Salam radio station 18.09.2006 - Ahmed Riyad Al-Karbouli, Baghdad TV 12.09.2006 - Hadi Anawi Al-Joubouri , free-lance 13.09.2006 - Safaa Ismail Inad, Al-Watan 09.09.2006 - Abdel Karim Al-Roubaï, Al-Sabah 7.08.2006 - Ismail Amine Ali, Freelance journalist 7.08.2006 - Mohammed Abbas Hamed, Al-Bayinnah Al-Jadida 1.08.2006 - Riyad Atto, Talafar al Youm 1.08.2006 - Adel Naji Al Mansouri, Al Alam TV 1.08.2006 - Abdul Wahab Abdul Razeq Al Qaisie, Kol Al Dounia 29.06.2006 - Ossama Qadeer, Cameraman, Fox News 13.06.2006 - Ibrahim Seneid, al-Bashara 31.05.2006 - Ali Jaafar, Al-Iraqiya TV 29.05.2006 - Paul Douglas, CBS 5.05.2006 - Abdel Magid Al Mohammadaoui, free-lance 7.05.2006 - Mouazaz Baroud, Al-Nahrain 5.05.2006 - Saoud Mazahem Al-Hadithi, Al-Baghdadia 22.04.2006 - Qussay Kahdban, radio Al-Bilad 26.03.2006 - Kamal Manahi Anbar, Institute for War and Peace Reporting 13.03.2006 - Muhsin Khudhair, Alef Ba 11.03.2006 - Amjad Hameed, Al-Iraqiya 07.03.2006 - Monsef Al-Khalidi, Baghdad TV Sat Channel 23.02.2006 - Atwar Bahjat, al-Arabiya TV 23.01.2006 - Hamza Hussein, sport journalist at private TV station Al-Diyar 28.11.2005 - Akeel Abdul Rwdha, AL-Iraqia 07.11.2005 - Ahmed Hussein Al Maliki, Tall Afar 19.10.2005 - Mohamed Haroun, Union of Iraqi Journalists general secretary 09.2005 - Sabah Salmane, Bagdad 21.09.2005 - Firas Al-Maadhidi, Al-Safir 20.09.2005 - Hind Ismail, Al-Safir 19.09.2005 - Fakher Haydar Al-Tamimi, New York Times 27.08.2005 - Rafed Al Rubaii, Al Irakiya 02.08.2005 - Steven Vincent, freelance journalist 22.06.2005 - Yasser Al Salihy, Knight Ridder 03.07.2005 - Maha Ibrahim, Baghdad TV 01.07.2005 - Khaled Sabih al Attar, al-Iraqia 28.06.2005 - Wael Al Bakri, Al Charkiyah 22.06.2005 - Jassim Al Qais, Al Siyada 15.05.2005 - Najem Abed Khodair, Al-Madaa and Tariq al-Shaab 15.05.2005 - Ahmad Adam, Al-Madaa and Sabah 23.04.2005 - Saleh Ibrahim, Associated Press 15.04.2005 - Shamal Abdallah Assad, Kirkuk TV, Kurdsat 14.04.2005 - Ali Abrahim Aissa, Al-Hurriya TV 14.04.2005 - Fadel Hazem Fadel, Al-Hurriya TV 01.04.2005 - Ahmed Jabbar Hashim, Al Sabah 14.03.2005 - Houssam Hilal Sarsam, Kurdistan-TV 10.03.2005 - Laik Ibrahim, Kurdistan-TV 25.02.2005 - Raeda Mohammed Wageh Wazzan, Iraqiya 09.02.2005 - Abdel Hussein Khazaal, Al-Hurra TV 01.11.2004 - Dhia Najim, Reuters 27.10.2004 - Liqaa Abdul-Razzaq, Al-Sharqiya 14.10.2004 - Karam Hussein, European Pressphoto Agency 14.10.2004 - Dina Mohamad Hassan, Al Hurriya Television 7.10.2004 - Ahmad Jassem, Nivive television 12.09.2004 - Mazen al-Tomaizi, Al-Arabiya 26.08.2004 - Enzo Baldoni, Diario della settimana 15.08.2004 - Mahmoud Hamid Abbas, ZDF 15.08.2004 - Hossam Ali, freelance 03.06.2004 - Sahar Saad Eddine Nouami, Al-Mizan, Al-Khaima, Al-Hayat Al-Gadida 27.05.2004 - Kotaro Ogawa, Nikkan Gendai 27.05.2004 - Shinsuke Hashida, Nikkan Gendai 19.05.2004 - Bassam Karim Al-Azzawi , Iraqi news agency WNA 07.05.2004 - Mounir Bouamrane, TVP 07.05.2004 - Waldemar Milewicz, TVP 19.04.2004 - Assad Kadhim, Al-Iraqiya TV 26.03.2004 - Bourhan Mohammad al-Louhaybi , ABC News 18.03.2004 - Ali Al-Khatib, Al-Arabiya 18.03.2004 - Ali Abdel Aziz, Al-Arabiya 18.03.2004 - Nadia Nasrat, Diyala Television 01.02.2004 - Simko Kareem Mohideen, free Lance cameraman 01.02.2004 - Salah Saidak, Itihad, editor in chief 01.02.2004 - Safeer Nadir, Qulan TV, cameraman 01.02.2004 - Nassih Saleem, freelancer 01.02.2004 - Mahdi Khashnaw, Nassree, editor in chief 01.02.2004 - Kamiran Mohamad Omar, freelancer 01.02.2004 - Ghareeb Mohamad Salih, KSC, cameraman 01.02.2004 - Ayoob Mohamad Salih, Kurdistan Satellite Channel, cameraman 01.02.2004 - Abdul Sattar Abdul Kareem, Photographer 28.10.2003 - Ahmed Shawkat, Bila Ittijah 17.08.2003 - Mazen Dana, Reuters 02.07.2003 - Ahmad Karim, Kurdistan Satellite TV 08.04.2003 - Tarek Ayoub, Al Jazeera 08.04.2003 - Taras Protsyuk, Reuters 08.04.2003 - José Couso, Tele 5 07.04.2003 - Julio Anguita Parrado, El Mundo 07.04.2003 - Christian Liebig, Focus 04.04.2003 - Michael Kelly , Washington Post 02.04.2003 - Kaveh Golestan , BBC 23.03.2003 - Terry Lloyd, ITV News 22.03.2003 - Paul Moran, Australian Broadcasting Corporation 54 Media assistants killed 05.12.2007 - Mohamad Jawad Ali, Biladi 25.08.2007 - Anwar Abbas Lafta, CBS 12.07.2007 - Said Chmagh, Driver, Reuters 9.05.2007 - Hakil Abdel-Kader Alouani, Driver, Al-Iraq Al-ghad, Al-Raad 3.05.2007 - Adel Al-Badri, Guard, Radio Dijla 05.04.2007 - Hussein Nizar, Bagdad TV 16.01.2007 - Identity unknown, Guard, Al Sabah 12.01.2007 - Identity unknown, Al Sabah 12.01.2007 - Identity unknown, Driver, Al Sabah 26.11.2006 - Fadhila Abdelkarim, Nainawa (local TV station) 15.11.2006 - Identity unknown, Al Massar (daily newspaper) 02.11.2006 - Identity unknown, Tariq Al Shaab 29.10.2006 - Anas Kassim Nejm, Driver, Atiaf 12.10.2006 - Hussein Ali, Technician, Al Shaabiya TV 12.10.2006 - Sami Nasrallah Al Shumari, Head administrator, Al Shaabiya TV 12.10.2006 - Identity unknown, Guard, Al Shaabiya TV 12.10.2006 - Identity unknown, Guard, Al Shaabiya TV 12.10.2006 - Identity unknown, Guard, Al Shaabiya TV 12.10.2006 - Identity unknown, Guard, Al Shaabiya TV 12.10.2006 - Identity unknown, Guard, Al Shaabiya TV 12.10.2006 - Ahmad Shaaban, Producer, Al Shaabiya TV 12.10.2006 - Dhakir Hussein Al Shuwaili, Producer, Al Shaabiya TV 07.10.2006 - Jassim Aarif Hassan, Al-Charkiya TV 03.10.2006 - Hamad Ibrahim, Al-Iraqiya TV 29.05.2006 - James Brolan, CBS 5.05.2006 - Abdel Chaker Al Dalimi, Independant photographer 7.05.2006 - Ismail Mohammad Khalaf, Al Sabah 7.05.2006 - Leith Al-Doulaïmi, Al-Nahrain 11.03.2006 - Anwar Turky, Amjad Hameed’s driver, Al-Iraqiya 23.02.2006 - Adnane Kahïnallah, sound recordist Al-Arabiya 23.02.2006 - Khaled Mahmoud Al-Falahi, cameraman Al-Arabiya 25.01.2006 - Mahmoud Zaal, Television cameraman at Baghdad TV satellite channel 16.01.2006 - Luaay Salam Radeef, Al-Baghdadia Cameraman 07.01.2006 - Allan Enwiyah, American journalist Jill Carroll’s interpreter 21.09.05 - Ahlam Youssef , Al-Iraqiya TV 17.09.2005 - Sabah Mohssin, Al-Iraqiya 28.08.2005 - Waleed Khaled, Reuters TV 23.07.2005 - Adnan Al Bayati, Rai, Mediaset, TG3 and Panorama 02.09.2004 - Ismaïl Taher Mohsin, Associated Press 25.08.2004 - Jamal Tawfiq Salmane, Gazeta Wyborcza 29.05.2004 - Mahmoud Ismael Daood, bodyguard, Al-Sabah al-Jadid 29.05.2004 - Samia Abdeljabar, driver, Al-Sabah al-Jadid 27.05.2004 - Muhammad Aldin, translator, Le Soir 25.05.2004 - Unknown, translator 21.05.2004 - Rachid Hamid Wali, cameraman assistant, Al-Jazira 29.04.2004 - Hussein Saleh, driver, Al-Iraquiya TV 26.03.2004 - Omar Hashim Kamal, translator, Time 18.03.2004 - Majid Rachid, technician, Diyala Television 18.03.2004 - Mohamad Ahmad, security agent, Diyala Television 27.01.2004 - Duraid Isa Mohammed, producer and translator, CNN 27.01.2004 - Yasser Khatab, driver, CNN 07.07.2003 - Jeremy Little, sound engineer, NBC 06.04.2003 - Kamaran Abdurazaq Muhamed, translator, BBC 22.03.2003 - Hussein Othman, translator, ITV News 14 Journalists kidnapped 28.07.2007 - Talal Mohammed, Associated Press 09.05.2007 - Salam Douhi Al-Soudani, al-Zaoura 03.17.2007 - Thamir Sabri, Radio Dijla, driver 03.17.2007 - Karim Manhal, Radio Dijla, newsreader 03.03.2007 - Talal Hachim Birkdar, Al-Diyar, journalist 02.14.2007 - Ihab Mohammed, Al-Hurra, employee 01.11.2007 - Karim Sabri Sharar Al-Roubaï, Al-Dawa, journalist 01.09.2007 - Akil Admane Majid , Al Sabah, accountant 12.25.2006 - Samir Ali Saoud, Sada Bagdad, deputy chief editor 08.14.2006 - Bilal Abdelrahman Al-Obeidi, AFP, journalist mid-september 2006 - Mohammed Abderrahmane, Dijla, journalist 04.04.2006 - Salah Jali al-Gharraoui, AFP, accountant 02.01.2006 - Rim Zeid, Sumariya TV, journalist 02.01.2006 - Marouane Khazaal, Sumariya TV, journalist
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