Kill the messenger, cover up the crime
“The Spanish court for the third time has reopened the case of the killing of journalist José Couso.” More embassy cables confirm serious, entrenched government misconduct.
Spanish television aired the documentary about the case, ‘Hotel Palestine: Killing the Witness,’ produced by José Couso’s network, Telecinco. The documentary includes interviews with numerous journalists who were inside the Palestine Hotel and helped rush José Couso to the hospital where he died.
BAGHDAD 2003 — “José Couso and Taras Protsyuk, “Reuters [news wire] cameramen, were on separate balconies filming—in the end, filming their own deaths,” Amy Goodman said in yesterday’s Democracy Now report, “as the U.S. tank opened fire on the Palestine Hotel.” These are scenes from the documentary ‘Hotel Palestine: Killing the Witness (excerpted on Democracy Now) taken inside the Palestine Hotel moments after the U.S. tank attack.…
“NARRATOR: The shell explodes before hitting the hotel facade and sprays the upper floors with shrapnel. The Reuters room suffers the dramatic consequences. Near the balcony, their cameraman Taras Protsyuk receives the full blast and collapses, mortally wounded. Paul Pasquale finds himself on the floor covered with blood.
“JON SISTIAGA: [translated] I couldn’t believe that it was the Americans until I reached Couso who was conscious, who was awake, and he told me it was the tank.
“ANTONIO BAQUERO: [translated] Suddenly we saw a damaged balcony. It was the 15th floor. But I started to count. One, two, three, four, five...15. They hit the Reuters room. The first thing I thought was, “Damn it, Couso is right below there.”
“JON SISTIAGA: [translated] It was a tank, because Couso saw how they shot him. He was looking at the tank when he was hit. He was aware of who killed him.
“ANTONIO BAQUERO: [translated] And then I saw the camera on the floor, destroyed, and the pool of blood. That moment is frozen in my mind. …”Unveiled obstruction of justice furthering impunity
“Leaked U.S. embassy cables from Madrid reveal the United States pressured the Spanish government to close a court case brought by the family of the Spanish cameraman, José Couso.
“Couso was killed on April 8, 2003, in Baghdad when a U.S. Army tank fired on the Palestine Hotel, which was filled with journalists.
“Three U.S. soldiers have been indicted in Spanish court for Couso’s death.
The brother of José Couso, Javier Couso, responded to the cable content: ‘I am outraged … I can’t believe my government conspired with a foreign government…
“It seems we are citizens, or at least a small province, of the empire of the United States.”
Source and notes
Amy Goodman’s lead of this segment of Wednesday’s Democracy Now program: The Spanish court has reopened this case into the killing of José Couso for the third time in the last few months. “Leaked Cables Reveal U.S. Pressured Spain to Drop Case of Cameraman Killed in 2003 Attack on Journalists in Baghdad,” Democracy Now, December 1, 2010,
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/12/1/us_pressured_spain_to_drop_case
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