United States I

WHEREAS several journalists have been killed in Iraq in incidents involving U.S. troops and that the IAPA understands that covering a war is dangerous WHEREAS legitimate doubts have been raised as to the circumstances in which: U.S. troops opened fire on the Palestine Hotel on April 8, killing Ukrainian cameraman Taras Protsyuk of Reuters and Spanish cameraman José Couso of Telecinco (Spain); U.S. munitions were fired at the Baghdad offices of Al-Jazeera TV station on April 8, killing cameraman Tareq Ayoub; U.S. troops opened fire outside Abu Ghraib prison in western Baghdad on August 17, killing Mazen Dana, a Palestinian cameraman working for Reuters WHEREAS the Pentagon has not disclosed the rules of engagement for U.S. troops in Iraq WHEREAS Principle 4 of the Declaration of Chapultepec states: “Freedom of expression and of the press are severely limited by murder, terrorism, kidnapping, pressure, intimidation, the unjust imprisonment of journalists, the destruction of facilities, violence of any kind and impunity for perpetrators. Such acts must be investigated promptly and punished harshly” THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE IAPA RESOLVES To express its concern and sadness over the deaths of journalists working in Iraq to ask the Pentagon for a thorough and public investigation into the deaths of Taras Protsyuk, José Couso, Tareq Ayoub and Mazen Dana to ask the Pentagon for a full explanation of its rules of engagement in Iraq, in the interest of transparency, in order to reduce the risk of other journalists being killed there to send a copy of this resolution to the families and employers of the four dead journalists.