] BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The Iraqi capital sank into anarchy
] on Friday as residents went on a looting spree in full
] view of U.S. forces.
]
] As troops still battled to contain pockets of Iraqi
] fighters scattered around the city, thousands of ordinary
] citizens helped themselves to anything they could lay
] their hands on in shops, factories, schools, hospitals
] and government buildings.
]
] Young and old, men and women rifled through bomb-damaged
] buildings as well as areas unaffected by fighting.
]
] "Is this your liberation?" one frustrated shopkeeper
] screamed at the crew of a U.S. tank as a gang of youths
] helped themselves to everything in his small hardware
] store and carted booty off in the wheelbarrows that had
] also been on sale.
]
] "Hell, it ain't my job to stop them," drawled one young
] marine, lighting a cigarette as he looked on. "Goddamn
] Iraqis will steal anything if you let them. Look at
] them."

Is This Freedom, Ask Iraqis as Chaos Reigns

] LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A gunman in a speeding car opened
] fire on a motorcade carrying "gangsta" rapper Snoop Dogg
] and his bodyguards, slightly injuring one person and
] leaving police on Friday with few clues as to who might
] be shooting at one of rap's biggest stars.
]
]
] The sometimes controversial 31-year-old rapper, whose
] real name is Calvin Broadus, was questioned by Los
] Angeles police detectives after the Thursday night
] shooting, an LAPD (news - web sites) spokesman said, but
] was unable to shed much light on the incident.
]
] "We talked to him last night and he was very
] cooperative," Sgt. John Pasquariello said. "He just
] doesn't know a lot."

Rapper Snoop Dogg Unscathed as Bullets Fly in L.A.

] Japanese electronics giant Sony has taken an
] extraordinary step to cash in on the war in Iraq by
] patenting the term "Shock and Awe" for a computer game.
]
] It is among a swarm of companies scrambling to
] commercially exploit the war in Iraq, which has killed
] more than 5,000 soldiers and civilians in the space of
] three weeks.
]
] MediaGuardian.co.uk has learned that Sony is set to
] launch a computer game called "Shock and Awe", having
] registered the defining phrase of the coalition's
] military campaign as a trademark in the US.

Sony leads charge to cash in on Iraq

] Television messages recorded by Tony Blair and George
] Bush have been broadcast to the Iraqi people on Thursday.
]
] Downing Street said the messages, recorded during their
] summit in Northern Ireland, were among five hours a day
] broadcast by the coalition's new "Towards Freedom" TV
] channel.
]
] The broadcast came as Mr Blair warned his cabinet that
] victory was not yet complete in Iraq, after scenes of
] joyful Iraqis celebrating in Baghdad.

Blair and Bush TV broadcast to Iraq

] An action-packed trailer for the long-awaited sequel to
] The Matrix has been released by Warner Bros.
]
] The minute-long series of clips from The Matrix Reloaded
] offers a glimpse of the action sci-fi feature, due for
] release on 23 May.
]
] It mirrors the first film's combination of acrobatic
] martial arts fight scenes, high-octane car chases and
] spectacular special effects.

Matrix sequel trailer released

] Rep. Lynn Woolsey wants peace to have a better chance.
]
] In ambitious legislation re-introduced in Congress this
] week, the Petaluma Democrat and 46 congressional
] co-authors have proposed the creation of a Department of
] Peace, a kind of counterbalance to the Department of
] Defense.
]
] The primary author of the bill to create the
] Cabinet-level department is Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio,
] who is also an announced candidate for president.
]
] With American tanks and airplanes pounding Iraq, the
] chances of a U.S. Department of Peace may seem more
] remote than ever. But Woolsey isn't worried about being
] drowned out by the din of war.

Woolsey backs Department of Peace bill

] 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

IRAQ: U.S. Govt Accused of War Crimes against Journalists

] Our vanguard entered Baghdad soon after nine o'clock this
] morning. The city is approached by an unmetalled road
] between palm groves and orange gardens.
]
] Crowds of Baghdadis came out to meet us: Persians, Krabe,
] Jew, Armenians, Chaldeans and Christians of diverse sects
] and races. They lined the streets, balconies and roofs,
] hurrahing and clapping their hands. Groups of
] schoolchildren danced in front of us, shouting and
] cheering, and the women of the city turned out in their
] holiday dresses.
]
] The people of the city have been robbed to supply the
] Turkish army for the last two years. The oppression was
] becoming unendurable, and during the last week it
] degenerated into brigandage. I am told that the mere
] mention of the British was punishable, and the people
] were afraid to talk freely about the war.

British welcome in Baghdad

] In Baghdad, an Al Jazeera reporter is fatally wounded at
] the TV outlet's office, and two cameramen die at
] Palestine Hotel.
]
] By John Daniszewski
]
] Times Staff Writer
]
]
] April 9, 2003
]
]
] BAGHDAD -- The slender illusion of safety for journalists
] in the Iraqi capital was shattered Tuesday as a reporter
] and two cameramen were killed -- all by American fire.
]
]
] There have been a range of fears for journalists here
] since the beginning of the war, from U.S. bombs to the
] wrath of hard-core Iraqi loyalists to the chaos that
] could erupt in the event of a power vacuum. But the
] Palestine Hotel, on the east bank of the Tigris River,
] had been seen by journalists as a sanctuary.
]
]
] And because of that, the erratic elevators and the
] absence of hot water and electricity in the rooms -- not
] to mention the occasional cockroach -- were endured as
] nuisances in covering the Iraqi side of the war. With its
] seedy demeanor, it was much like the old Commodore Hotel
] in Beirut, where journalists flocked in the 1970s and
] '80s because they believed they would be safe even in the
] face of civil war and Israeli attacks on the Lebanese
] capital.
]
]
] Journalists working in wartime often concoct rationales
] to convince themselves they'll be safe. They make rules
] such as not going out after dark and always wearing a
] flak jack

'Friendly Fire' Kills 3 Journalists

] 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.

Johnny Dead Line - Laid bare, the true risks of covering war.