By Con Coughlin World Last updated: February 23rd, 2012
256 Comments
Con Coughlin, the Telegraph's executive foreign editor, is a world-renowned expert on the Middle East and Islamic terrorism. He is the author of several critically acclaimed books. His new book, Khomeini's Ghost, is published by Macmillan.
Marie Colvin, The Sunday Times's war correspondent who has been killed in Syria
Let's not beat about the bush. Marie Colvin and French journalist Remi Ochlik were murdered by the thugs trying to keep President Bashar al-Assad's regime in power.
It was no secret that the house in Homs where the two journalists were staying was being used as a makeshift media centre, and Marie, with her distinctive eye patch, was easily identifiable, particularly after she had done a series of interviews for American and British broadcasters the previous night.
But the Syrian regime is not used to criticism. When I lived in Beirut in the 1980s journalists who wrote disobliging articles about the regime of Bashar's father, Hafez al-Assad, were punished by having acid poured into their eyes, or having their hands cut off. There's Syrian justice for you.
So I have no trouble in believing our report in today's Daily Telegraph that the journalists were deliberately targeted after Syrian forces besieging Homs received orders from Damascus to silence them once and for all. It seems that, at the time she died, Marie and Remi were preparing to flee the building, having realised that the Syrians were about to attack. But they were killed instantly when they suffered a direct hit from a missile fired by pro-Assad forces.
The assault on the compound was, of course, a direct contravention of the Geneva Conventions, and the Syrian regime should be made to pay the consequences of its actions. There has been much talk recently of finding a safe haven for Assad and his cronies so that the bloodshed can be brought to a halt. Might I suggest the dock at the International Criminal Court in the Hague?
Tags: Assad, Marie Colvin, Syria
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Showing 1-25 of 261 comments
jolomo
02/26/2012 12:36 PM
While I feel sympathy for Colvin & her friends & family she was aware that she was reporting from a very dangerous place. I am sure if she had enough of being a war reporter & had asked to be a white house reporter or similar there would have been no problem.
However, this is not what she wanted, she wanted to be where the action - Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, etc. So dying in what is pretty much a warzone - hardly a surprise.
Yes, the media are now pushing for more intervention but unless the Arab states take the lead no Western government will do anything as all are scared to be seen as the big bad bully.
limerick
02/26/2012 04:09 AM
All good stuff Con. No surprises from you, as usual.
"So I have no trouble in believing". - Con and his invisible "source"
Khomeini.
Everyone knows exactly that which you believe Con, just as well the rest of us prefer the truth.
I can't remember, what was your reaction to the death of James Miller in 2003?
"British television
journalist James Miller died after being shot by Israeli troops in the
southern town of Rafah in the Gaza Strip'.
I assume you were calling for Ariel Sharon to be placed in the dock at the ICC.
You weren't? Can't imagine why not, can you Con?
(Wake him up and send him now.)
Lithlad
02/25/2012 09:26 PM
After 9/11 and the murder of nearly 3000 people, two nations - Iraq and Afghanistan - were changed forever. Yet, in Syria, nearly 3 times as many civilians are dying at the hands of Assad, and all the West does is cluck its tongue. And now, after the death of one journalist who, let's be honest, accepted the risks, only now are the chattering classes expressing their outrage and demanding action. Are they seriously suggesting that there be a NATO-led war in Syria because of the death of one admittedly liked and respected journalist?I can hear Marie Colvin spinning in her grave
griff1602/24/2012 06:42 PM
The civilised countries of the world should come a consensus to end the killing of unarmed people in Syria , whether they are citizens or media people.
But I have trouble with the sanctimonious out cry for this female journalist who died in a very dangerous place reporting stories and being paid for it , it came with the job. I also have trouble at the moment with the media trying to obtain sympathy from the public when they have been lying , bunging bribes, hacking , stalking all in the name of the freedom of free speech.
I think that when they have shown that they can act in a responsible manner .ie. playing the game then they can start asking for support from the public.
Back to Syria this is just the start for what is going to happen in Iran and there will be much wailing and gnashing of teeth .
David Sketchley
02/24/2012 09:47 AM
Should read: "Con Coughlin, the Telegraph's executive foreign editor, is a world-renowned propaganda conduit for the US/UK intelligence services."
Can't seem to find Coughlin's similar declarations about the deaths of British journalists or journalists working for British media organsations at the hands of the US in Iraq such as Terry Lloyd (ITN), Taras Protsyuk (Reuters), Mazen Dana (Reuters).
And I can't seem to find similar condemnations from Coughlin about US direct attacks on media compounds in Serbia, Al Jazeerah in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the cowardly US attack on the Hotel Palestine in Baghdad which killed a Spanish camerman and a Reuters cameraman. All this after Kate Adie had warned that any journalist not embedded with troops was a target.
Surely not, surely Con Coughlin is not a blatant hypocrite, demagogue and propagandist? I'm afraid the evidence is conclusive. Yes he is. In fact his support for wars of aggression puts him firmly in the realm of the likes of Julius Streicher...
russian
02/24/2012 07:57 AM
Send Con over there with a tin hat and a rifle to help the Al Quaedans
blackarrow
02/24/2012 01:47 AM
Another justification for the charge of hypocrisy in the outrage about Marie Colvin's death is our deliberate targeting of the TV station in Serbia, during our war crime - Appendix B of the Rambouillet Treaty - Kosovo war, claiming its broadcasts made it a legitimate military target.
How quickly we forget.
______ blackarrow
02/24/2012 11:28 AM
16 journalists and/or employees were killed in our premeditated attack on that civilian Serb TV station:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N...
But *we* did it, so it was OK.
And note my disgust a couple pages below (shared by 17 others so far) about the absolute hypocritical silence, by contrast, of British journalists about Britain's "high court" denying a genuine, under-oath coroner's inquest into Dr. David Kelly's highly questionable death - i.e., going along with the coverup.
The West is rotting through.
Lou Coatney, www.coatneyhistory.com
sebastian2
02/24/2012 12:48 AM
Yes. A dock at the International Criminal Court would fit Assad better than his bespoke suits and there are many itching to see him garbed accordingly: except for the Chinese and Russians who, for their own secretive and nefarious reasons, seem to find mass-murder so much more convenient. What secrets does Assad have, then, that he must stay in place even to massacre his own people with impunity?
That said, let's not kid ourselves into thinking that Assad's removal would bring "peace" to that divided territory. There, the Sunni-Shi'ia ancient rift, even with Assad gone, would find fresh expression as it does in Iraq. The conflicts, the deaths and the costs wouldn't end there.
So where does this take us? Assad used the Demon of repression and totalitarian control to bottle up the Djinni of violent, bloody rivalry. Now that Djinni is out.
Other than providing humanitarian aid (which should come first from their mohammedan "brothers" actually but probably won't) we should stand back and let them destroy each other with their usual gusto. Better that, than going in so they can combine to destroy us.
Either way, Russian and Chinese hands have much proxy blood on them. Not, of course, that they will care a jot.
troon62
02/23/2012 11:40 PM
An American who had never heard of Marie Colvin or her French counterpart prior to their deaths, I am shocked at the cynicism reflected in so many of the comments. An obviously decent, decidedly brave journalist gave her life in the service of informing people far removed from the realities of war what was actually happening on the ground. It seems clear, too, that there is hard evidence to support the contention that the thugs in Damascus gave direct orders to target the makeshift media centre they occupied. If so, that is murder; just as it is murder for the indiscriminate slaughter of the innocents trapped in Homs. The widely accepted code is that journalists are not to be targeted in any conflict. The miserable cretins that choose to do so deserve damnation, period. I hope that Marie and Remi rest in peace, knowing they performed their jobs with unusual valor.
______ randal
02/24/2012 08:25 AM
"It seems clear, too, that there is hard evidence to support the contention that the thugs in Damascus gave direct orders to target the makeshift media centre they occupied "
If that's your idea of "hard evidence" I've got a bridge to sell you. The allegation that the targeting was deliberate could as easily be black propaganda as truth, and only someone very naive or very biased could believe otherwise.
"The widely accepted code is that journalists are not to be targeted in any conflict. "
Attacking enemy media operations is common practice, albeit something governments like to pretend they don't do.
Americans targeted the Yugoslav TV centre, as well as Al Jazeerah offices in Baghdad and Kabul, and there were a suspiciously large number of deaths of journos in Iraq.
"I am shocked at the cynicism reflected in so many of the comments"
Perhaps that reflects more on your own naivety than the supposed cynicism of the comments in question.
You should try to put yourself in the shoes of an ordinary Syrian who supports the Syrian government's efforts to restore order in the face of armed popular opposition (a significant minority, at least, of the population), and think how you would feel about the coverage of the uprising in the western media. Perhaps you might understand then that your automatic sympathy mostly reflects your own bias.
(Edited by author 4 days ago)
____________ troon62
02/24/2012 11:46 PM
Talk about naivete (try spelling it accurately, Randal)! "Put yourself in the shoes of an ordinary Syrian who supports the Syrian government's efforts to restore oder in the face of armed popular opposition..." What an utter crock! Increasing numbers of Syrians, cowed for more than four decades by the brutality of the totalitarian, murderous Assad dynasty, inspired by the events of the Arab Spring, are finally finding the courage to confront one of the most vile regimes in the world. Pray for them, not for the Syrians who continue to provide support to the butchery of Assad and his thugs. BTW, is the Assad gang withholding taxes from your government paycheck? Jeesh!!
hardtruth01
02/23/2012 11:01 PM
When civilians are killed by NATO bombs targetting "insurgents" and "militants" within cities such "collateral damage" is usually blamed on the "insurgents" for using the city-dwellers as "human shields" .
How does this differ?
If the journalists' hotels was targetted, as the dubious Torygraph propaganda holds, how does this differ from the US targetting the Palestine Hotel in Bagdad, killing Taras Protsyuk and Jose Couso?
Was that "murder by thugs"?
AlexanderDeLarge
02/23/2012 09:03 PM
Con, you are a wind-up merchant
par excellence.
franklyhellish
02/23/2012 09:00 PM
I do not watch TV and I confess I had never heard of this woman until she was killed and the BBC and DT started to exploit her death. It strikes me as grotesque that the monopoly stream media are making so much of just one death among the many. The feminist BBC will milk this for all it can. It seems to happen all too often that the journalist becomes the story, in life and in death, even more so if it involves a female.
Welietoyouandwereproud
02/23/2012 08:52 PM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A...
Interesting piece.
(Edited by author 4 days ago)
______ Aasvogel
02/23/2012 09:03 PM
...and appropriate!
anthonyorange
02/23/2012 08:45 PM
What exactly does Con mean when he says that Assad must pay for her death? If he means that the war in Syria should end and Assad should be removed then yes, that is what has been said for some time now and we hope it will end if China and Russia can see sense.
But if he means that Assad should be punished coz this woman was in a war zone and was killed then Con has lost his marbles.
Con, Assad should pay for everyones murder.
paulw
02/23/2012 08:28 PM
What an idiotic thing to say.
She wasn't murdered - she was the in the wrong place at the wrong time in a dangerous conflict zone she was warned to evacuate days previously but a warning she chose to ignore.
Such sensationalist reporting of an event this women brought largely upon herself is a total disgrace.
_______ norto
02/23/2012 08:35 PM
Her job was to get at the truth. She knew she would be killed and she died to expose the murdering barbarity of Assad.
She was a true heroine, and should be recognised and thanked for her sacrifice.
____________ AlexanderDeLarge
02/23/2012 08:58 PM
norto
When you wrote this drivel how much alcohol had you consumed ?
____________ Welietoyouandwereproud
02/23/2012 08:54 PM
"Her job was to get at the truth."
Then lie her ass off to the rest of us.
simon21
02/23/2012 08:21 PM
Well Con some of us are not surprised but i recall you beating up up a few days ago telling us that Al Queda etc were dominating the opposition.
And while not thinking that the journalist's death was other than a tragedy a lot of Syrian women and children have also been killed.
Their deaths are a tragedy too.
Aasvogel
02/23/2012 08:12 PM
She said: "Craters. Burned houses. Mutilated bodies. Women weeping for children and husbands. Men for their wives, mothers, children".
"Our mission is to report these horrors of war with accuracy and without prejudice.
"We always have to ask ourselves whether the level of risk is worth the story. What is bravery, and what is bravado?"
"Journalists covering combat shoulder great responsibilities and face difficult choices. Sometimes they pay the ultimate price."
These were her words. A brave woman to the last: she knew the score and deliberately put herself in the firing line. For that, she has my respect.
Interestingly, she did not use the word "murder" to describe the carnage in Syria; rather, she used "combat" and "horrors".
I have no truck with Assad or his policies but to accuse him or his "thugs" of the pre-meditated murder of Marie Colvin and Remi Ochlik is pulling a rather long bow, even for a warmonger such as Coughlin.
It would be good if he presented motive and evidence for the claim rather than the usual headline rhetoric. Her eyepatch? Come on, Con; you can do better than that.
She did.
(Edited by author 4 days ago)
blackarrow
02/23/2012 08:25 PM
As disgusted with the hypocrisy of the outrage about her death as I am - see my postings below - it is entirely possible she was targeted as an inciting element, Aasvogel. And Syria is Assad's turf, not anyone else's, unless the UN Security Council passes an unvetoed resolution to the contrary.
Note the Brazilian Patriota's attempt to get the UN Sec Gen to legitimize an attack. That would be irrelevant: it is the UNSC which must decide. If we go in there regardless, it will be the start of World War 3.
Lou Coatney, www.coatneyhistory.com
(Edited by author 4 days ago)
________________
What do you think ?
Các anh chị nghĩ thế nào, có ý kiến- phê bình gì qua bài viết "Assad must pay for Marie Colvin's murder" của Con Coughlin, the Telegraph's executive foreign editor và 25 ý kiến- phê bình từ "261 Comments" của đọc giả ?
Đã hơn 8000 người dân Syria BỊ GIẾT, độc tài Assad vẫn tiếp tục làm trò hề một cách trơ trẽn, hèn hạ, vô sỉ và TÀN BẠO của một con QUỶ, mai mỉa thay "con QUỶ" đó đã được "giáo dục", "huấn luyện", "đào tạo" và không chừng đã từng "được nuôi dưỡng", "dung túng" bởi những kẻ luôn "ca ngợi TỰ DO, DÂN CHỦ, NHÂN QUYỀN" !
Những người dân VN BỊ MẤT NƯỚC vào tay bè lũ phản quốc CƯỚP NƯỚC DIỆT CHỦNG BÁN NƯỚC Việt gian cộng sản VN, học thêm bài học gì nữa qua tình hình Syria kể từ Cách Mạng LẬT ĐỔ bè lũ cầm quyền độc tài tại Bắc Phi và Trung Đông đã và đang BÙNG CHÁY và lan rộng trên toàn thế giới ?
Người dân Syria vẫn còn đang tiếp tục BỊ GIẾT, bị TÀN SÁT nhưng họ đã và đang là NHỮNG CON NGƯỜI ĐÚNG NGHĨA, họ đã không thể tiếp tục cúi đầu làm nô lệ, tiếp tục làm những con vật dưới sự cầm quyền của độc tài Assad, họ đã ĐỨNG LÊN CHỐNG LẠI BẠO LỰC ĐỘC TÀI đã chà đạp họ, họ XỨNG ĐÁNG là những CON NGƯỜI.
Còn nữa, thật đáng phỉ nhổ, khinh bỉ cho những kẻ tự nguyện làm tay sai cho loài QUỶ dữ như độc tài Assad, đã không biết nhục nhã, xấu hổ khi tự nguyện trở thành những con vật phục vụ cho con quỷ Assad duy trì quyền lực để GIẾT NGƯỜI .
Assad đã làm TỘI ÁC thì sẽ phải ĐỀN TỘI với dân Syria.
Bản chất của những tên cầm quyền độc tài đều KHÁT MÁU như nhau .
Ngày tàn của những tên bạo chúa, những tên độc tài khát máu này đều ô nhục như nhau .
Còn nữa, bè lũ phản quốc CƯỚP NƯỚC DIỆT CHỦNG BÁN NƯỚC Việt gian cộng sản VN cũng không ngoại lệ .
Chân thành cám ơn Quý Anh Chị ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog"
Xin được lắng nghe ý kiến chia sẻ của Quý Anh Chị trực tiếp tại Diễn Đàn Paltalk: 1Latdo Tapdoan Vietgian CSVN Phanquoc Bannuoc .
Kính chúc Sức Khỏe Quý Anh Chị .
conbenho
Tiểu Muội quantu
Nguyễn Hoài Trang
29022012
___________
CSVN là TỘI ÁC
Bao che, dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là đồng lõa với TỘI ÁC
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