The Long War Journal: Snipers and the Targeting of Journalists

Written by Bill Roggio on May 21, 2005 2:35 PM to The Long War Journal

Available online at: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2005/05/snipers_and_the.php

How has the enemy developed its tactics in Iraq? DefenseTech points us to a PowerPoint presentation for insurgent sniper training (the HTML version is available for those without PowerPoint). The presentation has some tried and true tactics for all snipers: target officers, communications and heavily armed soldiers; do not engage overly superior forces; target high value civilians over military; and other such information. The presentation lists the duties of the sniper and then has a question and answer section on "who would you kill first?"

Two items jump out in this slide show. In one of the "7 Duties of a Sniper", the trainees are encouraged to target non-combatant military personnel, in clear violation of the Geneva Conventions:

Killing doctors and chaplains is suggested as a means of psychological warfare.

In the "who would you kill first?" Q & A section, targeting journalists is explicitly encouraged. On the order of targeting:

The first one is the Soldier… because he has a MG [machine gun]. Then is the stupid soldier on the left. He is a very easy target (look how he is elevated from the ground), then the soldier or the reporter carrying the camera. First, because the camera can be used as binoculars; second, it is the most difficult thing to hide the death of a reporter in Iraq.

This is a clear and explicit policy to target journalists in a combat zone.

Where is Linda Foley's outrage over this?