Get the reporters out of IRAQ..(or protect them)

Falstaff · Apr 22, 2003, 06:38 AM

War in Iraq - Media Deaths

15 April: Veronica Cabrera (Freelance, Argentina)
14 April: Mario Podesta (America TV)
12 April: Iraqi Interpreter (Malaysian media team)
8 April: Jose Couso (Telecinco, Spain)
8 April: Taras Protsyuk (Reuters, UK)
8 April: Tareq Ayoub (al-Jazeera, Qatar)
7 April: Christian Liebig (Focus, Germany)
7 April: Julio Anguita Parrado (El Mundo, Spain)
6 April: David Bloom (NBC, US)
6 April: Kamaran Abdurazaq Muhamed (BBC, UK)
4 April: Michael Kelly (Washington Post, US)
2 April: Kaveh Golestan (BBC, UK)
30 March: Gaby Rado (ITN, UK)
22 March: Paul Moran (ABC, Australia)
22 March: Terry Lloyd (ITN, UK)

Missing since March 22:

Fred Nerac (ITN, UK)
Hussein Osman (ITN, UK)

People are still reporting in IRAQ and Afghanistan, and they are still dying, what drives these people to risk it all, challenge military authority and rebels and robbers to bring these stories in? Absolutely nuts..
I think they taking unnecessary risks perhaps...except those that die from natural causes....Reporting is hell....

I think they should give all reporters advanced training in survival techniques....

Apr 22, 2003, 10:42 PM

yea i think that we really should get the media out of iraq... they have no reason really to be in a war zone anyway though

Falstaff · Apr 23, 2003, 02:49 AM

If they are there, they better have protection

Alistair · Apr 23, 2003, 03:41 AM

They know what they are getting into when they sign up for such duties. I mean you'd have to be pretty niave if you thought being a reporter and wearing that Press jacket & helmet was going to stop people from firing at you in the middle of a gunfight. Don't get me wrong I respect their courage in wanting to cover the war, but they have only themselves to blame for their deaths as they knowingly went over there.

Falstaff · Apr 23, 2003, 04:54 AM

I often wonder, about the reporters lost to the N. Vietnamese so many years ago, where they are, buried perhaps in a vacant field, their memories perhaps fleeting images from the cameras they carried, their film rolled and bound into a tin, beneath a hut, along a muddy trail..they definitely earned my respect, my father a veteren told me stories of their courage, and the courage of women that accompanied american soldiers into the field, and I cannot forget Frank Capra, died during the vietnam war...The movie "the killing fields" brought some of it to light for me, but I always wonder why someone would shoot footage and record during a life and death struggle between opposing forces, to force themselves into situations where clearly they were more at risk.
Is it courage, is it insanity, is it blind obedience to some inner voice? What calls them to danger and to possible death. To call them hero's would invite speculation about what they accomplished, surely revealing the inticate and twisted struggles of the modern battlefield wouldn't demand that kind of dedication, so what is it?
Is it a calling, like medicine or science research, or the pursuit of the unknown, I am amazed, and I am curious, but I go no further.
Perhaps when General Custer was surrounded and his men fell around him, did the reporter keep scribbling down notes, did he remove himself to a hiding place, say prayer and push his leather bound journal into the bushes..who knows..
And the deaths of these men and women, will they be honored as heros or just employees of their respective news organizations. I hope for more than that....
Reporters served with my unit during the Gulf War and Bierut, we tolerated them, but we knew it took five of us to keep them alive, and we were expected to protect them against most tactical threats, they were scared, they ran and they crapped their pants, but they kept right up with us...none of this "in the rear with the gear"
I personally would like to see a few of them shoot back at the enemy, but that will probably never happen, they are too focused on the goal.....getting the story out, telling the truth, and shedding light upon the dark side of human conflict....Where ever they are buried, in nameless graves on foriegn shores or in family plots or cast to the wind as ashes, may they never stop doing what they do best, someone has got to tell the story...

merry · Apr 23, 2003, 10:59 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by fallang_jeff
I think they should give all reporters advanced training in survival techniques....

I think they should give all civilians advanced training in survival techniques....

Falstaff · Apr 23, 2003, 02:12 PM

Yeh, they seem to suffer the most, women, children, indilgent, they all have to adapt to a war anyway they can, perhaps that is what the reporters are there to see

Apr 22, 2003, 06:38 AM	#1
Falstaff Old Codger Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: USAFA Posts: 19,048 Rep Power: 207	Get the reporters out of IRAQ..(or protect them) War in Iraq - Media Deaths 15 April: Veronica Cabrera (Freelance, Argentina) 14 April: Mario Podesta (America TV) 12 April: Iraqi Interpreter (Malaysian media team) 8 April: Jose Couso (Telecinco, Spain) 8 April: Taras Protsyuk (Reuters, UK) 8 April: Tareq Ayoub (al-Jazeera, Qatar) 7 April: Christian Liebig (Focus, Germany) 7 April: Julio Anguita Parrado (El Mundo, Spain) 6 April: David Bloom (NBC, US) 6 April: Kamaran Abdurazaq Muhamed (BBC, UK) 4 April: Michael Kelly (Washington Post, US) 2 April: Kaveh Golestan (BBC, UK) 30 March: Gaby Rado (ITN, UK) 22 March: Paul Moran (ABC, Australia) 22 March: Terry Lloyd (ITN, UK) Missing since March 22: Fred Nerac (ITN, UK) Hussein Osman (ITN, UK) People are still reporting in IRAQ and Afghanistan, and they are still dying, what drives these people to risk it all, challenge military authority and rebels and robbers to bring these stories in? Absolutely nuts.. I think they taking unnecessary risks perhaps...except those that die from natural causes....Reporting is hell.... I think they should give all reporters advanced training in survival techniques.... __________________ "Inspiration is always a surprising visitor."

Apr 23, 2003, 02:49 AM	Thread Starter #3
Falstaff Old Codger Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: USAFA Posts: 19,048 Rep Power: 207	Yeh If they are there, they better have protection __________________ "Inspiration is always a surprising visitor."

Apr 23, 2003, 03:41 AM	#4
Alistair Spoos Join Date: May 2002 Location: State College, PA, USA Posts: 435 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	They know what they are getting into when they sign up for such duties. I mean you'd have to be pretty niave if you thought being a reporter and wearing that Press jacket & helmet was going to stop people from firing at you in the middle of a gunfight. Don't get me wrong I respect their courage in wanting to cover the war, but they have only themselves to blame for their deaths as they knowingly went over there. __________________ - Alistair

Apr 23, 2003, 04:54 AM	Thread Starter #5
Falstaff Old Codger Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: USAFA Posts: 19,048 Rep Power: 207	the pursuit of information and the truth I often wonder, about the reporters lost to the N. Vietnamese so many years ago, where they are, buried perhaps in a vacant field, their memories perhaps fleeting images from the cameras they carried, their film rolled and bound into a tin, beneath a hut, along a muddy trail..they definitely earned my respect, my father a veteren told me stories of their courage, and the courage of women that accompanied american soldiers into the field, and I cannot forget Frank Capra, died during the vietnam war...The movie "the killing fields" brought some of it to light for me, but I always wonder why someone would shoot footage and record during a life and death struggle between opposing forces, to force themselves into situations where clearly they were more at risk. Is it courage, is it insanity, is it blind obedience to some inner voice? What calls them to danger and to possible death. To call them hero's would invite speculation about what they accomplished, surely revealing the inticate and twisted struggles of the modern battlefield wouldn't demand that kind of dedication, so what is it? Is it a calling, like medicine or science research, or the pursuit of the unknown, I am amazed, and I am curious, but I go no further. Perhaps when General Custer was surrounded and his men fell around him, did the reporter keep scribbling down notes, did he remove himself to a hiding place, say prayer and push his leather bound journal into the bushes..who knows.. And the deaths of these men and women, will they be honored as heros or just employees of their respective news organizations. I hope for more than that.... Reporters served with my unit during the Gulf War and Bierut, we tolerated them, but we knew it took five of us to keep them alive, and we were expected to protect them against most tactical threats, they were scared, they ran and they crapped their pants, but they kept right up with us...none of this "in the rear with the gear" I personally would like to see a few of them shoot back at the enemy, but that will probably never happen, they are too focused on the goal.....getting the story out, telling the truth, and shedding light upon the dark side of human conflict....Where ever they are buried, in nameless graves on foriegn shores or in family plots or cast to the wind as ashes, may they never stop doing what they do best, someone has got to tell the story... __________________ "Inspiration is always a surprising visitor."

Apr 23, 2003, 02:12 PM	Thread Starter #7
Falstaff Old Codger Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: USAFA Posts: 19,048 Rep Power: 207	TOUCHE! Yeh, they seem to suffer the most, women, children, indilgent, they all have to adapt to a war anyway they can, perhaps that is what the reporters are there to see __________________ "Inspiration is always a surprising visitor."

Apr 22, 2003, 10:42 PM	#2
generalstupid Guest Posts: n/a	yea i think that we really should get the media out of iraq... they have no reason really to be in a war zone anyway though