hey kicking them out verbally is better than bombing their offices and killing them as US forces did in iraq!
Agreed
US warplanes bomb Al Jazeera office, kill journalist
Al-Jazeera's Tariq Ayoub, killed on 8 April by US bombing. (Al-Jazeera screenshot)
Al-Jazeera correspondent Tariq Ayoub was killed on Tuesday when two US missiles struck the Baghdad offices of the Qatar-based channel. Shortly afterwards, US warplanes returned to hit the neighbouring Abu Dhabi TV offices. Five other journalists including three from the news agency Reuters were also injured when a tank fired a round at the Palestine Hotel where at least 200 international correspondents are staying in Baghdad.">Digg this story!
Report, Al-Jazeera, 8 April 2003
source
Al-Jazeera's Tariq Ayoub, killed on 8 April by US bombing. (Al-Jazeera screenshot)
Al-Jazeera correspondent Tariq Ayoub was killed on Tuesday when two US missiles struck the Baghdad offices of the Qatar-based channel.
Five other journalists including three from the news agency Reuters were also injured when a tank fired a round at the Palestine Hotel where at least 200 international correspondents, including Al-Jazeera reporters, are staying in Baghdad.
"We regret to inform you that our cameraman and correspondent Tariq Ayoub was killed this morning during the US missile strike on our Baghdad office," the Qatar-based channel said in a statement read out during its news bulletin.
Another cameraman, Zuheir Iraqi, was slightly wounded with shrapnel to his neck. Ayoub giving his last report minutes before the US attack
They were both standing on the roof getting ready for a live broadcast amid intensifying bombardment of the city when the building was hit by two missiles, according to Tayseer Allouni, another Al Jazeera correspondent.
Cameraman Iraqi came down bleeding, but Ayoub did not show up. "I ran up as the shells were still falling and crawled on the roof and shouted for Tariq, but he did not answer," Allouni said.
Allouni had gone down because of the intense bombing. He later went up again and with the help of Abu Dhabi TV correspondent, Jaber Obeid, they found Ayoub's body.
Allouni, Jaber and others held Ayoub's body which was covered by a blanket and placed it in Abu Dhabi TV's vehicle that transported it to hospital.
Shortly afterwards, US warplanes returned to hit the neighbouring Abu Dhabi TV offices.
"It seems that we have become a target," said Allouni.
Another of Jazeera's Baghdad correspondents Majed Abdel Hadi called the U.S. missile strike and Ayoub's death a "crime".
"I will not be objective about this because we have been dragged into this conflict," he said, visibly upset. "We were targeted because the Americans don't want the world to see the crimes they are committing against the Iraqi people."
Al-Jazeera aired footage of Ayoub only one hour before his death as he was preparing to go live. He was leaning on sandbags and wearing a helmet and a flack jacket.
"I knew Tariq for 10 years ," said Yasser Abu Hilalah, Al-Jazeera correspondent in Amman. "He was very brave, professional and a hard worker," he added. "Al-Jazeera office is located in a residential area and there is no way that the attack was a mistake."
Ayoub. aged 35, was married with one daughter. He travelled to Baghdad only five days ago to join the Al-Jazeera team from the channel's Amman office where he had worked as a financial correspondent for three years. Originally from Palestine, he had also worked for the Jordan Times and the international news agency Associated Press.
Earlier, Abdel-Hadi told our presenter that Al-Jazeera office was "deliberately targeted... and it is not the first time. Our Kabul office was hit by four (US) missiles," he said. US warplanes hit the Afghanistan office of Al Jazeera in 2001, just 10 minutes after its correspondents had received warning of an impending attack.
Last week, the hotel where Al-Jazeera correspondents in the southern Iraqi city of Basra was also hit by four bombs that did not explode.
"Al-Jazeera team has no role in the war. We are only witnesses and are reporting objectively. This proves that the US is trying to cover the crime its commits in its war on Iraq. Targeting witnesses is the biggest crime," said Abdel-Hadi, visibly upset.
The European Union said after the incident it is to call on the United States to keep journalists out of the firing line, reported a Greek official.
Today's bombing left Al Jazeera's offices a ruin. But the channel said it would continue its coverage of the US-led war on Iraq that began on March 20. "It is impossible to work in the office, but we will continue to cover the war within the capabilities that we have and despite the difficult circumstances," Abdel-Hadi said.
Since Al Jazeera started covering the US-led war on Iraq its Arabic and English language websites have also been attacked by what computer experts describe as organised and systematic hacking campaign.
This report is from Al-Jazeera's English website, found at english.aljazeera.net
/Peace To All
