Phrases We Need to Retire: Friendly Fire
I keep both the London Times and BBC on my Palm T/X for my morning Metro ride. The day just isn’t right without that first jolt of international news. Yes, I know that Rupert Murdoch owns the Times of London, and its opinion pages lean neoconish, but its still a pretty good source. And, because of the timing of the news cycle, the London Times will be out in front of a story that the Washington Post will miss.
For instance, this story in the Times of London. It’s about the inquest into the death of Terry Lloyd, an unimbedded journalist who was shot and killed by US forces in 2003:
When the gunfire stopped he saw a green minibus appear. “It was difficult to see because of the black smoke in the area at the time. It would appear they helped people into the vehicle.”
Nicholas Walshe, an ITN journalist, who investigated the deaths for his company, said that the driver of the green minibus claimed he had picked up Mr Lloyd to take to him to hospital.
Mr Walshe said the “credible witness” claimed that his van was comandeered by Iraqi troops and had come under American fire as Mr Lloyd lay on two wooden slats.
He said: “This particular witness said Terry appeared shot in the shoulder and his arm was broken. He had been lying in the sand between two lanes of the road and walked to the car but was too weak to get in it without help.”
The BBC version goes a bit further:
The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) said Mr Lloyd’s killing was a “war crime” and this was echoed by Mr Lloyd’s widow, Lyn.
In a statement she said: “This was a very serious war crime, how else can firing on a vehicle in these circumstances be interpreted?
“This was not a friendly fire incident or a crossfire incident, it was a despicable, deliberate, vengeful act, particularly as it came many minutes after the initial exchange.
“US forces appear to have allowed their soldiers to behave like trigger happy cowboys in an area where civilians were moving around.”
The timing of the story is such that it missed today’s Washington Post and NYT. I see that Reuters picked it up this morning at the conclusion of the inquest, though that means it will be relegated to the Post’s Saturday edition. On the other hand, the coroner’s damning conclusion may be the most newsworthy aspect of the story (Reuters):
“He was fired on by American soldiers as a minibus carried wounded people away,” Coroner Andrew Walker said at the conclusion of the inquest, which U.S. soldiers declined to attend.
“I have no doubt it was an unlawful act of fire on the minibus,” Walker added.
