In Memorium

Today marks the four-year anniversary of three deaths from three US bombing attacks on journalists in Iraq - on the offices of Al Jazeera, Abu Dhabi TV, and the Palestine Hotel where numerous journalists were housed while covering the invasion liberation. Several others were injured in the attack on the Palestine Hotel.

Al Jazeera pulled its remaining reporters out of Baghdad after the attack. "We got the message," a station director at the Qatar headquarters said. The very next day after the three attacks, the US Army entered Baghdad and staged the destruction of the statue of Saddam Hussein. (The "end of major operations in Iraq" - Mission Accomplished.)

Coincidence?

During the Afghan war, two supposedly smart US bombs hit the Reuters office in Kabul and many suspect the attack was no accident. It happened at a strategic moment, two hours before the Northern Alliance took over the city.

  Guardian article, April 9, 2003

And on this day in particular, with its divine coincidence - the day Christians celebrate a young man laying down his life for the truth - take a moment to reflect on the fact that these young men gave their lives so that we might know the truth.

Tarek Ayyoub, Al Jazeera

Mongrel image

Taras Protsyuk, Reuters

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Reporters Without Borders image

Jose Couso, Telecinco

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smh.com.au image

Rest in peace.