The Family, Friends and Co-Workers of Jose Couso are writing you to ask for your participation in an initiative we are undertaking to denounce war crimes committed in the invasion of Iraq, which have yet to be investigated or explained.
The date of April 8, 2003 constitutes a turning point in terms of war crimes. On that day, before the eyes of a stunned world, the same company of the US army attacked the offices of the television channels Al-Jazeera and Abu Dhabi and the Hotel Palestine, which housed all the international media. The result was three journalists dead and numerous wounded, in an unmistakably sinister warning to the independent international media covering the invasion from the Iraqi capital.
Tarek Ayoub of Al Jazeera, Taras Protsyuk of Reuters and José Couso of Tele 5 where murdered even though no combat had taken place in the areas where they were working. Their locations were known to all sides, including the Pentagon, which had the coordinates of all media sites.
Nearly a year after these events, there has not been a single independent, credible investigation, as the US government has issued self-exculpatory reports that go so far as to call these acts “self-defense.”
In August we received a macabre reminder in the murder of Mazen Dana, a Reuters journalist, who died from US fire after identifying himself to the military commander in the area.
Regardless of the debate concerning the injustice of the invasion and occupation of a sovereign nation, respect for the laws of war in the Geneva Convention is binding upon all parties to a conflict. Attacks on civilians - and journalists are civilians - are war crimes that must be prosecuted. We also believe that this particular act is an outright criminal attack on our right to be informed because the media are, in war zones, the eyes and ears of millions of people who have the RIGHT to be truthfully informed. But not only journalists must be protected: the bombing of civilian areas and the documented use of cluster bombs in the invasion constitute flagrant war crimes that must be investigated and punished where possible.
For a country like the United States of America, with a constitution that proclaims freedom and democracy as supreme values, to not prosecute these criminal acts or even investigate them seriously, is a violation of human values that we, as free people, simply will not tolerate: this is our motivation for undertaking this initiative of commemoration and denunciation, which will be held in Baghdad in April 2004.
As a tentative program - which has yet to be finalized - we will engage in the following acts:
Laying of flowers and reading of texts before the Hotel Palestine
Laying of flowers and reading of texts before the offices of Al Jazeera
Laying of flowers and reading of texts before the Abu Gharib prison
Presentation of plaque of gratitude to doctors at Ibn Nafis Hospital
The initiative will be composed of 3 people who are family, friends and co-workers of Jose Couso along with Spanish journalists who wish to join us in our demand for an investigation and justice, in order to make sure that acts such as these will never happen again.
In addition, we would like to have your support as an individual, and/or the support of your organization, party or group, so that this initiative against war crimes can bring to bear all the moral force it deserves.
We look forward to your reply.
Best regards,
Javier Couso Permuy on behalf of the HAC (Family, Friends and Co-Workers of José Couso)
Contact:
accion@josecouso.info
www.josecouso.info
