Posted on 10/24/2005 2:40:07 PM PDT by mdittmar
The Palestine and Sheraton hotels were the world's windows on Baghdad during the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.
Television reporters stood on rooftops of the side-by-side hotels for their live shots, using a nearby blue-domed mosque in Firdous Square as a backdrop. Photographers took pictures of smoldering palaces from the hotels' upper floors.
And Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf gained international fame for his absurd claims of Iraqi military victories - all delivered from a Palestine Hotel banquet room.
The Palestine was shelled on April 8, 2003, by a U.S. tank from across the Tigris River. Soldiers said they believed hostile forces were using a balcony to direct fire, and fired a 120mm tank round that killed two cameramen. A U.S. military investigation concluded that the attack was justified.
A day later, Marines moved into the hotel, taking rooms alongside journalists and stationing tanks and stringing razor wire on neighboring streets. At that point, Iraqis crowded around the barricades every day, marching through the square to air their complaints at their new rulers, the twin hotels symbols of the occupation.
When the Army took over for the Marines in Baghdad, they vacated the hotel rooms but maintained guard on surrounding streets.
Security was intensified after terrorist attacks intensified in Baghdad, and later, security walls were added around the compound in an effort to keep out car bombs.
The 18-floor Palestine sports a bizarre facade, with an octagonal concrete design shielding each balcony. With a fading 1970s decor, it has fallen into disrepair since it was built in 1982 as a part of the French Meridien chain. Saddam Hussein's government took over management of the hotel in 1989 before the war.
The Sheraton, built in the early 1980s, also was appropriated from the international chain. That 19-story structure features glass elevators and a giant circular swimming pool, but it has been almost entirely vacant in recent months.
Now they whine that they got hit by their idols,the terrorists,yet they never mention it in this story,only take the opportunity to implicate our military.
How interesting.
The terrorists want news coverage, and don't care how many journalists they have to kidnap/behead/murder to get it.
The irony is killing me.
The irony is killing me.
Its a damned shame!
But the dumbass Muslims are attacking one of the few sympathetic groups in the world to their fight. But a group that will behead and blow up civilians will likely do anything.
I bet those reporters were happy to see the military after the bombings. I would have not have put a single GI in danger to save their sorry butts.
Until one day the Army didn't pass on the warning and evacuate the place. Shook them silly (and me also because I stopped in for coffee between appts.)
Maybe that happened in Baghdad today.
I don't think the terrorists warn our military where they will hit,they would be dead terrorists if they did.
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