MILITARY INTELLIGENCE

US tank crew cleared in attack on 'unembedded' journalists in Baghdad hotel

A US military investigation has concluded that the crew of a US tank acted properly when it fired on a Baghdad hotel filled with foreign journalists April 8, killing two television cameramen, the US Central Command said.
The tank fired at the Palestine Hotel after soldiers observed what they believed to be an enemy "hunter/killer team" directing Iraqi fire from a balcony on an upper floor of the hotel, the command said in a statement summarizing the findings.
The investigation "concludes that a tank from A Company, 4-64 Armor properly fired upon a suspected enemy hunter/killer team in a proportionate and justifiably measured response," the statement said.
Pentagon officials and military commanders on the ground in Baghdad knew the hotel was full of journalists, but failed to warn the tank's commander, the committee said.