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Hotel-attack probe blasted
13/08/2003 16:12 - (SA)
Madrid - Amid claims by a victim's relatives of a cover-up, the Spanish government is keeping mum on a United States inquiry clearing its troops of wrongdoing in a controversial April attack on the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad during which two cameramen were killed.
Spanish cameraman José Couso, 37, and Ukrainian cameraman Taras Protsyuk, 35, both died on April 8 when a US tank fired a shell at the hotel, the main media hotel in the Iraqi capital.
While no official reaction from the government was forthcoming, Couso's relatives blasted the findings as an attempt to cover up "a war crime".
Protsuysk was working for Reuters news agency and Couso for Spanish television station Telecinco.
A US military investigation concluded on Tuesday the tank crew had acted properly when it fired on the hotel.
US central command said in a statement the crew fired on the hotel after seeing what they believed to be an enemy "hunter/killer team" directing Iraqi fire from a balcony on an upper floor.
The statement added the inquiry found the troops had made "a proportionate and justifiably measured response".
Covering up a 'war crime'
A separate investigation by the Committee to Protect Journalists, a watchdog group, had concluded in May that the attack, "while not deliberate, was avoidable".
Spanish foreign minister Ana Palacio told Couso's family about the inquiry's findings and a ministry spokesman said the Spanish government would not comment "for the moment" on the matter.
Couso's brother, Javier, blasted the inquiry findings as a "lie", which sought to cover up what he termed " a war crime".
He added: "We will continue to demonstrate at the headquarters of the (ruling) Popular Party and outside the US embassy and will pursue our action right all the way to the courts."
Couso's family had complained at what they saw as the reluctance of Prime Minister José Maria Aznar's government to plead their case.
Spain threw its weight strongly behind the US-led conflict in Iraq despite virulent domestic opposition.
A spokesman for Couso's former employer, Telecinco, said the broadcaster had no comment to make on the inquiry's findings.
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