Family seeks justice for killing of British journalist

It was early on the morning of Mar. 21, 2003, that British TV reporter Terry Lloyd heard that thousands of Iraqi soldiers were surrendering in the southern town of Basra. As a journalist working for the ITN network, operating independently of the military, it seemed the perfect opportunity to record the voices of those the war was being waged against and to film the arrival of British troops. He and his cameramen, Daniel Demoustier and Fred Nerac, and his Lebanese translator, Hussein Osman, set off in two vehicles clearly marked with "TV" signs. They were not to know it, but there had been no surrender. On the road to Basra, they came across Iraqi troops near the Shatt al-Basra bridge and did a U-turn. Lloyd and Demoustier were in one 4x4 vehicle, the other two in another. It was then that the firing started. In his account, Demoustier said: "There were bullets everywhere, the windows were smashed. I ducked down–I was still driving–I could not see at all where I was going. I looked round and Terry was out of the car, the door was open. The car hit a ditch and I jumped out–just then the car caught fire." All hell broke loose, he said, and he was sure he was going to die. For more than three years, it had been unclear what happened to the rest of the ITN crew, except that Demoustier was the only survivor. It was not until an Iraqi witness gave his testimony to an inquest led by a British coroner, Andrew Walker, that the fate of the 50-year-old veteran war reporter was laid bare. Lloyd had been shot in the back by US gunfire and lay in the center of the busy highway beside injured Iraqi soldiers. The Iraqi witness said: "Seeing that people needed help, I did a U-turn in the road and stopped my minibus.... I saw a man lying in the dirt between the two carriageways. On seeing the wounded soldiers getting into my minibus, he stood up and came towards me.... I could see that he was bleeding from a wound to his right shoulder. I believe that he was a journalist as he was wearing a card around his neck that said press." The man helped Lloyd to lie down in the back of his minibus. As he drove away, the vehicle came under heavy fire. Upon arrival at a hospital in Basra, the Iraqi found Lloyd had been shot in the head. It was this action–shooting at a civilian vehicle trying to escape from the line of fire–that the coroner considered in breach of the Geneva convention. Walker said the vehicle "presented no threat to the American forces" and that they had not shot it in self-defense. He said: "I have no doubt that it was the fact that the vehicle stopped to pick up survivors that prompted the Americans to fire at the vehicle.... I have no doubt that it was an unlawful act to fire on this vehicle. I must ask myself if I can be satisfied so I am sure that it was the intention of those who opened fire to kill or cause serious injury to those inside the minibus. I am so satisfied." Despite a coroner's request, the US authorities refused to allow the US soldiers involved in the shooting to be named or to attend the inquest. Their statements, heavily edited for "security reasons," were of no evidential value to the court as they could not be challenged. The coroner said he would be writing to the attorney general and the director of public prosecutions "to see whether any steps can be taken to bring the perpetrators responsible for this to justice." He was told that the US Army had not taken evidence from the soldiers until Apr. 19, four weeks after Lloyd's death. On the same day the US army wrote to the wife of Fred Nerac, whose remains have never been found, to deny that US forces had been involved. The inquest was shown a US video of the aftermath of the attack which had been given to the British Royal Military police months after the event. A forensic expert estimated that 15 minutes of film may have been cut from the beginning. Suspecting a cover-up, Lloyd's family have demanded that the US soldiers involved be held accountable in court. His widow, Lynn, said they were "trigger-happy cowboys." On Oct. 13, Lloyd's daughter, Chelsey, 24, who cried when the coroner handed down his verdict of unlawful killing, said: "We have heard and seen evidence which proves without doubt that my father was unlawfully killed by a bullet to the head from a heavy-caliber machine gun fired by US Marines. The killing of my father would seem to amount to murder, which is deeply shocking. We call on the attorney general and the director of public prosecutions to commence proceedings to bring the soldiers, including their commanding officers, to justice."