Army probe of Reuters death tainted: U.S. inspector

By Kristin Roberts

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. soldiers who killed a Reuters journalist in Iraq acted within military rules, but the Army's probe of the incident was tainted by its failure to preserve evidence, a Pentagon investigation said on Monday.

The Defense Department's inspector general, the Pentagon's watchdog agency, found that U.S. soldiers who fired on a Reuters car in west Baghdad in August 2005, killing Reuters Television soundman Waleed Khaled, reasonably responded to what they thought was a threat.

But the inspector general criticized the Army investigator for losing a critical piece of evidence -- video from a Reuters cameraman in the car that captured events leading up to and including the shooting.

That Army investigator's actions rightfully led Reuters to believe the investigation was not thorough or independent, the inspector general's report said.

"We found that although the (investigating officer) who conducted the Army investigation did not pursue some logical investigative actions, he properly concluded that during an ongoing enemy attack the soldiers thought a video camera and external microphone held out of an indigenous, unmarked vehicle was a rocket propelled grenade," the inspector general said.

"The soldiers reasonably believed that act constituted a threat to United States forces and as such were obligated to act and did so in accordance with the (rules of engagement)."

SAFETY MEASURES

The inspector general also faulted Reuters and its safety practices. The car carrying Khaled and cameraman Haider Kadhem was not marked "press," for example, and Kadhem wrongly stuck his camera out the car window, according to the military.