As the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and many other international bodies of journalists protested against attacks that have left several journalists dead or injured, Saudi journalists condemned the attacks as a “deliberate and cowardly act” by the American forces. “This is nothing short of a death-blow to free and fair journalism,” an Arab journalist said.

“The US-led coalition forces are killing journalists in Iraq to suppress the truth about civilian massacres. This also reinforces the Arab view that America wants the world to hear only its own account of the war,” the journalist said.

The bombing of two Arab TV channel offices and a hotel serving as a base for foreign journalists in Baghdad yesterday killed three reporters, bringing to at least 12 the number of deaths among journalists and staff since the war began 20 days ago. Those killed yesterday were Tareq Ayoub, a correspondent of the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera satellite television station; Taras Protsyuk, 35, a Ukrainian TV cameraman of Reuters, and Christian Leibig of the German weekly Focus.

Hussein Shobokshi, a political commentator and businessman, said: “This (killing of journalists) is no surprise because it adds another angle to this dirty war. The Americans are trying to silence journalists and diplomats. They shot at a Russian convoy. They do not want any objective coverage (of the war). They want to make this war acceptable by twisting facts. The first casualties of this war are truth and the Iraqi people.”

Anas Khashoggi, a businessman, said: “It’s absolutely despicable that journalists are being targeted for doing their job. They have nothing to do with the war other than reporting the events as they unfold. Attacks on them are uncalled for, and the coalition forces should be more prudent in choosing their targets.”

“I’m sorry (to hear of the tragedies),” Wahib Binzagr, a columnist and businessman, said. “They must have known the risks they were taking (when they went to the front). Journalists may consider themselves different from ordinary people, but they are no different from the point of view of the shock such war tragedies create. I hope it helps journalists to use their influence on world leaders, who must be blamed for the killing of innocent people and journalists.

“The Iraq war is a dark chapter in the history of humanity because the world leaders who were accepted as the guardians of international law and order are fighting it. Instead they promoted thuggery and resurrected the law of the jungle.”

A leading businesswoman, who asked not to be named, said: “They (journalists) were targeted because they were on their own. I think the bombers are butchers. After what I saw today on TV, I think, I cannot take it any more.”

Businessman Ahmad Alkhereiji said many people saw the killing of journalists as a deliberate US policy to eliminate people who do not reflect its own views about the war and who are courageous enough to reflect the other side of the story to the Iraqi conflict.

“The conflict is presented to the US public as a Hollywood production, where brilliant American generals are conducting a clean and surgical crusade, and not as the merciless abuse of the Iraqi people that is actually occurring. To say that this is against everything we hear about American beliefs in freedom of speech is really an understatement.

“All you have to do is look at what followed the killings when Abu Dhabi TV office was surrounded by American tanks and Iraqi TV was taken off the air. This shows a desire not to let the other side of the story be shown to the world.”

Senior journalists in Riyadh also strongly condemned the killing of journalists. While they generally blamed the US for targeting journalists reporting reality, they said it was quite possible that the Iraqi forces might have used the hotel to direct their fire against the Americans and provoke a media backlash against the Americans. They said it was ironic that while the US claims to be a champion of the free press, it should seek to muzzle it if it found the media coverage unpalatable.

Abdulwahab Al-Fayez, the Riyadh Bureau chief of Alsharq Al-Awsat, said the fact that the US forces had asked the International Committee of the Red Cross to evacuate the journalists suggests that they wanted to get them out of their way before going all out in their battle for Baghdad. However, he did not rule out the possibility of Iraqis firing from the Palestine Hotel as part of their unconventional tactics.

Nasser Al-Majali, a Jordanian journalist with the London-based e-newspaper Elaph.com, however, squarely blamed the Iraqi regime for accommodating the overseas journalists in the Palestine Hotel. “Maybe they wanted to use the journalists for their own end by shooting at the Americans from the hotel and provoking retaliatory action that would discredit the US in the international media.