AS FORETOLD

The media lash out over death of their own.

Mazen's death came just days after a U.S. military inquiry exonerated a tank crew for firing on a Baghdad hotel housing journalists on April 8, killing a Ukrainian-born Reuters cameraman and a Spanish cameraman. The investigation concluded the tank crew had reason to believe hostile forces were using the building to direct fire on the Americans.

That is little comfort to the families of those killed. They don't believe the Pentagon's version. Many of the 100 journalists in the hotel that day deny the tank crew came under any fire. ...

How many journalists will be killed or hurt by U.S. armed forces in Iraq before the Pentagon carries out a public investigation that does more than whitewash the "shoot first, ask later" actions of its troops?

Unless the Pentagon accepts responsibility for the mistakes of its soldiers and punishes recklessness, the message it is sending to journalists is clear: We have little regard for you unless you're embedded with our troops, where we can keep an eye on you.

I am amazed. Is there any other group of people in the world who believe they have the ability to walk through a war zone without occasionally having that war affect them?

There are a few truths about war that are worth remembering, chief among those is that in war people die.

Of course, from the troops perspective you really hope that those people are the enemy. But sometimes they are not.

Hell, sometime they are our own, killed by our own by so-called friendly fire. It's why soldiers' black humor includes lines such as "Remember, friendly fire isn't."

And if, in spite of our best training and technology, not to mention motivation not to shoot our own, friendly fire still happens, then how in the world can the media expect that they are exposed day after day without danger of the same?

Let's put this in a little bit of perspective. Twelve months ago "Jimmy" just finished summer school to earn the final credits for his high-school diploma. Since then he has been to basic training and advanced individual training and then, lo and behold, he got himself shipped off to war.

Every day he faces an unseen enemy, one that wears civilian clothes and might be any one of the 5 million Iraqi faces staring back at him in downtown Baghdad.

Last week "Jimmy" lost his buddy "Tommy". Tommy took the brunt of the improvised explosive device (Army speak for a bomb made by hand). Tommy was two days shy of his 19th birthday.

Jimmy might have been driving the Humvee that day instead of Tommy, but the 1SG pulled Jimmy for ammunition detail.

Jimmy is nervous. Jimmy is tired. Jimmy is armed. Jimmy is trying to deal with the 130 degree heat, but he is wrapped up in his US Army Desert Cammouflage Uniform...you know, the one that shouts "aim at me, I'm with the US Army", and he is sweating his ass off. Jimmy is trying to figure out just how in the hell he got himself here in the first place.

And then, all of a sudden, Jimmy is on patrol. He is "on point". "Point" is the tip of the spear. Point is where the enemy probably sees you before you see him. Point is where, if things go bad, you have a life expectancy of about 1.5 seconds.

Jimmy is a soldier. Jimmy is in a war zone. Jimmy is carrying a loaded weapon. Jimmy is authorized to kill. Jimmy is trying to follow all of the rules of engagement, but in the end the rules of engagement come down to a judgement call by Jimmy. And in the end, the rules of engagement are not quite as instinctive as the rule of self-preservation.

Mr. Media Man, in old black and white movies we know who you are by the large card marked "Press" protruding from the brim of your fedora. But you no longer wear a fedora. In fact, you dress just like the folks who want to kill Jimmy.

Mr. Media Man, you are on a floor fairly high up in a hotel. Jimmy and his platoon have the enemy on the run in an urban environment. Where do they go? Jimmy doesn't know, but if they have a modicum of military training they will seek "the high ground". The high ground is where the tactical advantage is. And the high ground, Mr. Media Man, looks a lot like a hotel balcony on an urban battlefield.

Mr. Medial Man, you are carrying something large and pointy. You raise it to your shoulder. From here it looks like a shoulder fired weapon. Unfortunately for us both, Mr. Meda Man, the maximum effective range of an RPG exceeds the maximum effective range of Jimmy's eyeballs to differentiate between an RPG and a camera. And then, what do you do? You point that shoulder mounted whatever it is at Jimmy.

Jimmy is nervous. Jimmy is tired. Jimmy is in a war zone. Jimmy is a soldier. Jimmy is armed.

Now, Mr. Media Man, why don't you tell me rationally who it is not exercising sound judgement here.

Mr. Media Man, when you have been at it 106 days in a row with no days off, reminded everyday that simply because of the uniform you put on this day might jolly well be your last because people out there intend to harm you...Mr. Media Man, then we will compare your actions, and reactions to those of Jimmy.

But frankly sir, this is our battle space. You asked to be here. It is dangerous. Deal with it.

One more point to consider. It is hard to quantify such things, but for the sake of argument, lets assume every US soldier in Iraq has had to make the shoot/don't shoot decision once per day since the 1st of May. That is 147,000 decisions per day for 117 days.

In all that time US Soldiers killed one journalist.

That means with respect to journalists the US Soldiers have been right 99.99999% of the time.