THURSDAY'S LETTERS: Strong Reaction to Salon.com's Sniper Investigation

By: E&P Staff Several readers wrote in with strong opinions regarding E&P editor Greg Mitchell's column praising Salon.com's investigation into who killed Knight Ridder's Iraq correspondent Yasser Salihee. The story, written by Salon foreign correspondent Philip Robertson, details a conversation the author had with a U.S. sniper believed to have fired the fatal shot.

***
Thanks for another great story. I have just one comment:

It never ceases to amaze me how journalists in Iraq see killings of innocent people as a "misunderstanding." If it were the other way around, it's doubtful that Americans would see a G.I. death as a misunderstanding -- and journalists surely wouldn't report it that way. But, I guess in this case the reporter has to continue to report from there and doesn't want to be shunned, so he lies. I guess it's OK, after all it was just an Iraqi, not a real person.

Kindly yours,
Joe Cunningham

***

Without proof, with unnamed sources, the journalist is casting doubt on the sniper's account of the incident.

More fiction from the vast left wing conspiracy (the MSM).

Why don't we believe you any more? "Two Iraqi eyewitnesses" indeed. Proved on what basis? The car was pulled over and the driver had his hands up -- but his finger were shot off, which suggests his hands were on the wheel. The story isn't even consistent. And all other accounts say the car was in motion at the time the shots were fired.

It's the reckless sniping of the MSM 'journalists' that is the real tragedy here, and there is no accident about it.

I understand you will only be happy if Iraq is turned over to the brutal morons who treat women like cattle and murder the innocent, but I don't think you are ever going to impress Jodie Foster.

The article you are "reporting on" and your own, are not honest searches for the truth.

Rathergate, and now this, have shown us that 'professional journalist' is just another oxymoron.

Brad Jensen

***

Your indictment of the U.S. military's actions in Iraq, specifically Joe the sniper, misses the point.

Yes, it's a shame that any innocent person is ever killed. However, your attempt to bury the most salient portion of the event -- the KR correspondent driving in a haphazard manner thereby resembling a suicide bomber--makes everything else in the article less credible, or at least, seem to drip with bias. You write so that your readers will infer that this shooting in self-defense amounted to murder. Wrong.

The U.S. military is prevailing in the most hostile environment imaginable, despite the attempts by you and your ilk to cast them in a bad light.

Shame on you.

John Driscoll
Richmond, VA

***

You and I don't get along Greg, but this was a pretty fair column. It is a sad story all the way around with no winners. I guess there is no way to be overcautious. But then again, how many reporters have died weighed against military deaths? Not trying to be a snot. Just saying, I think the military in general is showing a lot of deference and good judgment.

I hope they are all extra careful.

Ray Evans
Dallas, Texas

***

I truly hope the US sniper's comrades read this story and have a long talk with Robertson!

Slime like him is responsible for the overall decline of the news media's image and veracity today!

Allan Jones
Los Angeles, CA

***

In regards to Wiley Miller's response to my letter about the whining Garry Trudeau:

If Mr. Wiley would have been so considerate as to read the entire letter he would have seen his question answered. Mr. Trudeau sells a comic strip. If I buy the Mona Lisa and paint a mustache on it that is my right. I doubt if many editors purchase Mr. Trudeau's comic strip for his political analysis or acumen. If they are doing so and then placing the strip in the entertainment section with other strips that they purchase this is definitely a sign of bias. I think instead they pay to have Mr. Trudeau's humor. If, as can happen, the comic strip fails to humor then they should be able to alter it to their readers sensibilities. If however, they take the strip off the funny pages and put it in the opinion/editorial section -- which, by the way, is where the syndicated columnists should be run -- then it would be improper to make changes. The whining is the fact that Mr. Trudeau wants to sell his strip and make money as a business, which is fine, but he also wants to maintain control and ownership after he gets paid for it. He needs to decide whether he wants to draw cartoons and be a cartoonist or if he wants to be a political commentator. He wants his cake and eat it to. That is whining!

David J Horchak