Perhaps we can join the International Criminal Court and just allow any clown worldwide to hassle our troops.

I don't think any group in the world is subject to more rigorous legal oversight than our military. We police ourselves thank you very much.

Cordially,

Uncle J

I'm a little confused. I read the report from Reporters without Borders and it specifically cleared the three soldiers the Spanish judge wants to question.

My sense is that the US military will not take this seriously, but I'm more interested in the dog that didn't bark.

One would think that an esteemed authority like a Spanish judge indicting three American soldiers who killed a reporter during heated combat would be the story the media was looking for--the answe to their prayers. It confirms their belief that the evil US military targets the military. The perfect narrative for them.

My sense is that the media knows that this is an unfortunate friendly fire incident and publicity and media attention will debunk their theory of purposeful targetting, not prove it.

The really interesting this: how this will further poison the US/Spain relationship. This could get ugly or it could be one of those cases that just goes away or gets quietly settled.

Screw the Spaniards. They're as yellow as the French.

Maybe Rumsfeld can wipe his ass with the subpoena and return it to Pedraz. We need more of that kind of diplomacy if the spineless euro-trash are going to (finally) get the message.

This is a gift to John Bolton, isn't it?

Anyone else think we should put our actions to an "international test?"

Bin Laden murdered 3000 Americans. Zarqawi targets civilians in Iraq and elsewhere for death. Can someone explain to me, why the Spanish Judge isn't calling for them to come to court?

This is why I don't take the Left seriously, their priorities are so twisted as to be insane. With the insane, you pat them on the head and say 'there, there'. So, to the Spanish Judge, I say 'there, there'.

kate,
will you marry me?

Oh, come on now. Its only a matter of time before one of our own robed self appointed aristocracy starts issuing restraining orders on military operations. Our own Congress hides rather than confront the historial intrusion into war making powers that had until this time been exclusively that of the executive and legistlative branch. Following Justice Kennedy's recent justification of decision by 'international' legal standards rather than the Constitution, this is the beginning of a future disaster of self inflicted proportions.

During the previous Spanish Inquisition, the Catholics were the good guys, the Muslims were the bad guys and the Jews were expelled or went underground and fled to America. During the new Inquisition, the Muslims are the good guys, the Americans and the Jews are the bad guys, and the Catholics have gone underground.

Or do you seriously want me to believe that this "investigation" is "objective?"

Reporters who place themselves in the line of fire in a war zone and then point things that throw a reflection at armed combatants are putting their life in danger. Some of them die. If there is any issue with this our military oversight should investigate it. As to Europe and their wishes, we should withdraw our troops and allow them the priviledge of defending themselves.I emigrated from Germany many years ago and am a proud American. They REALLY do not deserve our help.

Stop it with the inquisition you moron. Salem was a lot worse, and more recent. By the latest times of the inquisition (1770) the US didn't even exist. Would you like to tackle some current issue, or shall we go further back? Oh, not possible, there was no USA by then. Too bad.

Europeans, unable and unwilling to fight in a real war, are now standing and shaking their impotent collective fist at their betters. They're so civilized, you see. What unmitigated hubris. They remind me of children on a playground muttering "you'll be sorry!" as they walk away from a fight. They fail to stand up for themselves so, shamefully, they point the finger at those who do. How pathetic can you get?

Isn't it a pity that America will be "reasonable" and just walze into their jails without protest.

Press passes aren't bullet proof. Their ego leads them to believe it's true. Sorry, but to stand on a building with binoculars while troops are getting shelled is just stupid.

Of course, if rporters tried spending even the minimum amount of time learning about the military they would know that.

It's regrettable he was killed, but shocking and surprising? No. It's like blaming fireman because a reporter runs into a burning building to take pictures and gets burned.

Jerry,

Not with my instrument. Besides they are pretty busy screwing themselves so why bother.

regards,

Pete,

Um, watch who you call a moron. The last Inquisition ended in 1834 (unless you're a tinfoil RC-bater, who believes that it continues to this day), quite a while after the establishment of this country. The Salem Witch Trials occurred in 1692, before even your accepted date of 1770, and well BEFORE the establishment of this country. And to comment that the a witch trial confined to a small colonial outpost of little concern geopolitically was worse than the Inquisition is fatuous. It was horrific, but doesn't come close to the horror and scale of the Inquisition. And given the topicality of Spain and its courts to the issue, the Inquisition is in play. Salem has nothing to do with the story whatsover.

Get your facts straight.

The new nazis have arriven!
Nobody can reply them, they can "liberate" your country if you don't adore these "freedom fighters".

Hail America!

Torquemada
(from the yellow and inquisitorial country)

Jose,

Que mal escribes en ingles. Haz el favor de dejarnos en paz si no tienes nada inteligente para decir.

Did you notice in the past few days the administration announced they withdrawing from the Naval Air Station at Rota Spain. This base has been used continuously since the '50s by USN patrol aircraft to monitor the Gibralter choke point.

No doubt the recent events as well as the withdrawl of the Spanish contingent from Iraq and a generally hostile attitude to the US, was behind our move.

As far as the incident at the Palestine hotel, for anyone watching on cable news and I was, when US forces were crossing the bridge with tanks and infantry, there were live reports they were coming under morter fire and spotting communications were coming from cell phones in the hotel.

You may remember someone had a camera inside one of the hotel rooms and machine gun fire from the tank was directed at this room, blowing out the window. First video I have seen showing incomig machinegun fire up close and personal. Can't remember if this was the fatal incident, probably not.

Point is, news correspondents in the middle of a combat zone really shouldn't be there without assuming the risks. They especially shouldn't be communicating potentially harmful information or be near anyone who is.

PJ: Dígalo otra vez, hermano! ¡España! ¡Hogar de los vientres amarillos!

Of course the U.S. soldiers shouldn't testify. Americans are as gods, answerable to no man. Anyone who can't understand that should be killed.

Hey, Jose:

If we Americans are really Nazis, how come Spain isn't kissing our ass like it did Hitler's?

in 1936 there was a civil war in Spain between Right (Catholic and pro army) and Left(Mostly againt religion and Army), the right win (Franco).
But after there was no war in Spain.
Spain and Portugal were not concerned by WWII.
JLS.

JLS: I realize Spain did not enter into a formal military alliance with Germany, like Italy, Romania, Hungary, Bulgeria and Finland did. However, Spain was hardly neutral, and can reasonably be called an ally of Hitler from 1940 through 1943 or so. The Spanish government allowed German submarines to dock in their ports and allowed German warplanes to utilize Spanish landing strips. Franco also created a unit of "volunteer" soldiers, numbering 18,000 strong according to this article (http://countrystudies.us/spain/24.htm) that assisted Germany on the Eastern front with the Soviet Union.

Would you all say the same if the shooting tank were spanish, and the journalists were american?

You have to know that all the journalists were together in that hotel, and that all the american soldiers were warned of this. You have to know that there were no shelling on that area during the last hour or so. There are images from associated press of that tank being immobile on the bridge and pointing to the hotel during more than half an hour.

So there were no mortar fire, no light weapons fire and there was not any kind of fighting or shooting in that area. Sergent Thomas Gibson asked his superiors if he had to shoot at what he thought was an observer at the hotel Palestina. After half an hour he received the order of shooting, and he did it. In such time I think someone must realize that that was the hotel were all the journalists were accomodated, and a place the Americans have fixed as a safe place. They can not give protection to them in any other place but hotel Palestina. All the journalists at the hotel thought that tank stationed on the bridge was giving cover to them.

I've nothing against the americans, even against Sergent gibson. But somebody have made a terrible mistake which caused the dead of a spanish civilian settled in a theoretically designated safe place for the american troops. Of course I can't say the same if the journalist was killed by an Irak soldier, but he have been killed by an american tank.I just ask for the possibility than a spanish judge can interrogate them. It means nothing, just to try to give an explanation to the family of Jose Couso. That was his name.
I just wonder if you wont ask for the same in the case that this have happened at the contrary. I think it's normal between to allied countries.

Sorry for my English, as I suppose you have noticed I'm spanish.
Just one more thing, Nobody have to kiss the ass of the states here. My grandfather died in Buchenwald (a nazi concentration camp) after he had fought against the nazis with the french "resistance". I think you must know that "resistance" had been first organized by spanish soldiers who fought against the fascist general Franco and his german nazi friends during three years. So please, take care about what you say.

"Would you all say the same if the shooting tank were spanish, and the journalists were American?"

Well, I would yes. In fact I believe that there have been some American journalists who have been killed in the conflict. And this has certainly occurred in past wars so why would this one be different?

I also wanted to point out that for the most part, it's not journalists who are making these accusations or who are pressing the issue, the Judge is acting on his own in a civil suit brought by the family of the deceased. Most journalists I think accept the risks of their profession. In fact it's a matter of pride.

Thats why the Judge's actions are so likely to be driven by petty anti-Americanism, not any quest for "Justice". There would be little hope of justice for an American in that court. I laugh when Europeans characterize us as prejudiced and ignorant. The fact is that they themselves are very prejudiced toward America.

Can't speak for anyone else here, but *I* probably would.

Friendly fire mistakes happen. Even under the best of conditions. There is no such thing as being 100% "safe" in a war zone, even for journalists, and this multiplies exponentially in environments like urban warfare. (The person who said that "press passes weren't bulletproof" expressed this very well.) If you want to be one hundred percent safe, stay home. Journalists should know and understand this. (How many of them actually *do* is another question entirely.)