] Add to the Iraq war death toll three more
] journalists%u2014Taras Protsyuk, Jose Couso, and Tarek
] Ayoub%u2014killed yesterday by the U.S. military in
] downtown Baghdad. A tank round fired by U.S. forces slew
] Protsyuk and Couso as they observed the action from the
] 14th- and 15th-floor balconies of their rooms in the
] Palestine Hotel, where most of the foreign press corps is
] staying. And an American strike cut down Ayoub, an Al
] Jazeera reporter, as he prepared a live broadcast from
] the top of the network's Baghdad headquarters.
]
] The Committee for the Protection of Journalists
] immediately protested the killings as violations of the
] Geneva Conventions, specifically Article 79, which
] extends the protected status as civilians to "journalists
] engaged in dangerous professional missions in areas of
] armed conflict. %u2026" The Palestine Hotel was
] well-known as a journalist domicile, CPJ wrote in its
] letter of protest, and Al Jazeera had informed the
] Pentagon of its Baghdad location prior to the war's
] beginning.