Holy cow. I just heard the Fox anchor say that. Small world...

I think its safe to say that Jihad TV is embedded with the Iraqis.

Would you explain the significance of this? Seriously. ???

Thanks.

Didn't look like it was behind a machine gun nest, as interesting as that would be.

I think some US (probably) gunfire was hitting the adobe/concrete wall in front of it and chips were flying up in front of the camer right before it was hit.

...they said this happened in Kabul in Afghanistan too. either al-jazeera is getting embedded with the baddies or the baddies are using al-jazeera locations to hide it...

It looks to me, frankly, like those little bits flying up into the camera's view are NOT "shells" from an outgoing gun next to the camera's position... they're gray and irregularly shaped, flying apart in little clusters. They look like chips of concrete being thrown up by *incoming* machine gun fire.

The one unbroken clip has these little blasts that throw up debris, and then the camera falls over on its side, and the clip ends. What it looks like to me is that the camera position was being fired on by a jet fighter; the cameraman freaked, dropped his camera, and ran.

I think it's far too difficult to dismiss the idea that command decided that we needed to send tanks over the Tigris at that bridge, but we couldn't launch the attack while Abu Dhabi and Al-Jazeera were pointing cameras right at it. So they sent in airstrikes to take them both out. It can't have been an accident. (Moralistically, this is on a par with the strike on Iraqi TV.)

So I'd expect the offensive on the east shore to take place pretty quick now that it's under cover of camera blackout...

There were two separate instances of stuff flying up. The second time it was definitely concrete chips, but the first time it appeared to be shell casings.

OK, the commentator on FOX is just completely wrong about this footage. Those shots are completely out of sequence. CNN's been running this footage for at least 45 minutes, and that particular camera was gone after it got shot. CNN's webcam feed has been running the video repeatedly as well, unedited (you can see the explosion without the cut from the plane):

Paste this into Real Player:
rtsp://live1.stream.aol.com/farm/*/encoder/cnn_webcast1_high

Additionally, I doubt the camera was 'behind an enemy position', more likely it probably looked like a sniper from several hundred yards away and someone else was firing on the tanks from that direction. If it looks like a sniper, you shoot first and evaluate later.

This is the sort of 'old FOX' that I used to hate. Thankfully Rick Leventhal is back on now.

Mm... possibly. The first one's certainly more ambiguous.

And Brian on Fox is now correcting himself, saying everybody's telling him that it looks more like incoming fire...

Brian, that was most likely small arms fire. Ammunition used in planes is huge and would throw up a lot more than a few shards of concrete.

Agreed-- I like your hypothesis, Joe (re: looked like a sniper).

Was it just the one cameraman feeding both Al-Jazeera and Abu Dhabi, then?

Yeah, I don't really know, either, but I can at least see why Wilson thought it was shell casings.

But watching it again, I'm not sure they are spaced regularly enough to be from a machine gun. They kind of fly up in a chaotic bunch.

They just showed it again, and its definitely concrete chips.

Something tells me that even if we publicize a believable alibi, this is going to haunt us for a while.

It definitely seems like Jihad TV was located near an Iraqi position. I think the position was on the ground below.

Considering fire would have been coming from that direction, I could see how a cameraman on the roof could easily be mistaken for a sniper or machine gun nest in the heat of battle.

Brian, I agree. This is bad PR. A KIA Al Jez correspondant is worth more than two Polish correspondants outright kidnapped by Al Fayeden (sic)

The fact that it was caught so crystal-clear on tape is what worries me. Heroic Cameraman standing on rooftop, braving enemy fire! [BAM] Uh-oh. [BAM!] Oh, crap... [BLAM!]
[camera tilts skyward, then falls sideways to the ground as Camera Martyr collapses in instant death]

I suspect it'll be getting airtime five, ten years from now in certain circles. Could turn into the Islamists' Danny Pearl.

Commentator on Fox is now exploring the counter-sniper angle. Advantage: Joe!

My best guess on what knocked that camera down, is the coaxially mounted .50cal machine gun on that Abrams in the background. It seemed too accurate and too light to be anything else.

If you watch the CNN webcam video (link posted above)you will see one or two snipers in clear view of the camera shot. Then the Arabic ribbon comes up a little later and the snipers are out of view (and of course, after the explosion they are probably dead). I think FOX got the audible correct. And whoever said AB,AJ are hiding the Iraqis is correct. These snipers by the way are in all black 9isn't that Fedayeen?)

I think we're confusing two different events. The falling-over cameraman was from Abu Dhabi TV. The al-Jazeera guy died (according to al-Jazeera) in a "missile strike" on their offices.

The CNN video linked above is just a live webcam view of Baghdad.

RE: The CNN video linked above is just a live webcam view of Baghdad...

Earlier, while this was on Fox, CNN, etc., they had the feed on the internet. Now they have switched back to the pool webcam live shot of the city. Can't wait to see that statue of SH come down!

Slightly off topic. Does anybody else find it annoying that the bottm 1/4 of the screen is covered with blatant advertising that blocks much of the video? Looking at Fox (the others are the same) ther eis the "Operation Iraqi Freedom" banner, with the Fox Logo and the "news" crawl at the bottom of the screen. The crawl is redundant since it often repeats what the reporter is saying, and the banner is just plain dumb.