Pentagon declines to address Spanish warrant against US troops

WAR.WIRE

Pentagon declines to address Spanish warrant against US troops
WASHINGTON (AFP) Oct 19, 2005
The Pentagon declined to address Wednesday an arrest warrant issued by a Spanish judge against three US soldiers suspected of involvement in the 2003 shelling of a Baghdad hotel which killed a Spanish cameraman.

Spanish judge Santiago Pedraz earlier Wednesday cited US Lieutenant Colonel Philip de Camp, Captain Philip Wolford and Sergeant Thomas Gibson for their alleged involvement in the incident, according to a legal source.

Spanish cameraman Jose Couso died in April 2003 when a US tank shelled Baghdad's Palestine Hotel, which was being used by the international media covering the Iraq war.

Another cameraman died in the shelling while three other staff of the Reuters news agency were wounded.

"It is a complex legal matter. I don't have any information with regard how the department will respond to the warrants," Lieutenant Colonel Barry Venable, a Pentagon spokesman, said.

"The legal framework is such that I am unable to comment on it at this point. Having said that, with regard to the incident itself, the journalist's death at the Palestine Hotel was a tragedy," Venable said.

The US military found no fault or negligence on the part of its troops following a US inquiry into the shelling of the hotel.

"There was a full and comprehensive investigation about the incident conducted," Venable added.