I et meget skarpt brev til senator John Warner kritiserer Reuters behandlingen journalister får av den amerikanske hæren. I alt 68 journalister er blitt drept i arbeid siden mars 2003.

Det er farlig å arbeide i nærheten av amerikanske soldater, hevder Reuters i brevet. Tre Reuters-folk er blitt drept på jobb.

Warner er leder av Senatets forsvarskomite.

The news agency complained of «a long parade of disturbing incidents whereby professional journalists have been killed, wrongfully detained and or illegally abused by US forces in Iraq», in the letter to Virginia Republican Senator, John Warner, head of the US Senate Armed Services Committee.
Reuters also slammed the Pentagon for failing to safeguard journalists covering the conflict, describing the situation as «spiralling out of control».
Senator Warner was urged to call upon US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to resolve the issues «in a way that best balances the legitimate security interests of US forces in Iraq and equally legitimate rights of journalists in conflict zones under international law».
The increasingly risky conditions journalists were forced to work in limited their «abilities to do their jobs» and created «a serious chilling effect on the media overall», the letter said.(afp)