] The hotel is well known as the unofficial Baghdadi centre
] of international press. A large number of foreign
] correspondents covering the war stay there.
]
]
] Ménard, RSF's secretary-general, said that all
] independent evidence on the U.S. attacks against the
] hotel shows that the firing was deliberate.
]
]
] %u201DFilm shot by the French television station France
] 3, and descriptions by journalists, prove that the
] neighbourhood around the hotel was very quiet at the hour
] of the attack, and that the U.S. tank crew took their
] time, waiting for a couple of minutes and adjusting its
] gun before opening fire,%u201D Ménard said.
]
]
] %u201DThis evidence does not match the U.S. version of an
] attack in self-defence and we can only conclude that the
] U.S Army deliberately and without warning targeted
] journalists,%u201D Ménard added.
]
]
] Caroline Sines, a French television correspondent
] covering the war in Baghdad, confirmed Ménard's
] accusations against the U.S. troops.
]
]
] %u201DI was at the Palestine Hotel at the moment of the
] attack, around one pm, Baghdad time, and my crew filmed
] everything,%u201D Sines said. %u201DOur films shows that
] the U.S. tank took its time at targeting the 14th floor
] of the hotel, where many journalists are hosted, at a
] moment of complete calm,%u201D Sines said.
]
]
] Menard urged the %u201DU.S. forces to prove that the
] incident was not a deli