MADRID, Spain — A judge has issued an international arrest warrant for three U.S. soldiers whose tank fired on a Baghdad hotel during the Iraq war, killing a Spanish journalist and one other, a court official said Wednesday.

Judge Santiago Pedraz issued the warrant for Sgt. Shawn Gibson, Capt. Philip Wolford and Lt. Col. Philip de Camp, all from the U.S. 3rd Infantry.

Jose Couso, who worked for the Spanish television network Telecinco, died April 8, 2003, after a U.S. army tank crew fired a shell on Hotel Palestine in Baghdad where several journalists were staying to cover the war.

Reuters cameraman Taras Portsyuk, a Ukrainian, also was killed.

The Spanish judge said he issued the arrest order because of a lack of judicial cooperation from the United States regarding the case.

U.S. officials insist the soldiers believed they were being shot at when they opened fire.

We should not, cannot, allows our soldiers to be extradited to a foreign court for the prosecution of war crimes. We are quite capable of a) determining when and where a war crime has been comitted and b) punishing those responsible.

Update:

Smash:

War zones are inherently dangerous places. Journalists assume a great deal of personal risk when they volunteer for assignment in areas where combat is likely to happen. In short, they know that there is a better than average chance that they won't come home alive. Knowing this, many choose to take the risk and go anyway.

The U.S. military does not intentionally target journalists. But there is no guarantee that they won't get caught in a crossfire, or that a camera crew won't be mistaken for a forward artillery spotter.

When this happens, it is a tragedy -- but it is not a crime.

Yup.

Update:

From the Boston Herald:

Crittenden, who was within about 100 yards of Gibson’s tank when he fired, said the tankers believed they were firing on an Iraqi forward artillery observer.

”This incident has been investigated by the Pentagon and several media organizations, and no evidence has been produced to suggest this was anything but a tragic accident of war by well-intentioned soldiers who had been in combat for up to 30 hours,’’ Crittenden said.

”The men who were killed accepted the same risk that all of us did who went willingly to Iraq, and unfortunately they paid the full price for their devotion to their professions.’’

(via Tim Blair)