The family of James Miller, a photographer who was shot by Israeli soldiers in Gaza, is seeking two million dollars for damages from the Israeli government. The Jerusalem Post has this:
The family charged that the army did not act with reasonable caution when troops, members of the Beduin Desert Reconnaissance Battalion who were searching for tunnels along the Egyptian-Gaza border, opened fire at Miller, who was holding a white flag. Miller, a British cameraman and documentary film maker, was working on a film about Palestinian children when he was shot.
Miller had a fancy for filming in very dangerous settings. He had shot a film during the Allied air raid on Afghanistan:
Miller cut his teeth as a freelance cameraman in some of the most hostile environments in the world, including Algeria, Bosnia, Lebanon, Sierra Leone, Sudan and Iraq. In 2001, he shot BENEATH THE VEIL, an epic journey through the repression, terror and war of Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. He returned to Afghanistan to film and direct UNHOLY WAR during the allied bombing campaign. Both these films received EMMY awards in 2002.
Miller certainly had a dangerous routine yet there are many who don’t understand how this incident could have happened. The Electronic Intifada (a site I never knew existed!) has numerous links to stories condemning those involved in Miller’s death (the Israelis). All of the articles here are biased against the soldiers.
The soldiers involved in the incident were not prosecuted after an investigation was conducted. The “PC War Police” are making it a crime and extremely difficult for American and Jewish soldiers to do battle. Soldiers may have terrorists waving white flags and then setting off bombs, terrorists faking dead and then setting off bombs, terrorists dressing as women and then setting off bombs. Yet, the soldiers are not expected to make any mistakes.
Not warning journalists who put themselves in the line of fire on a battlefield is ridiculous, unwise and unsafe. But this is what is needed. If not, then this will probably not be the last sad story we here like this. But, I have a sense that Mr. Miller knew the danger involved in the work he loved and would not have been happy doing anything else. For the family to pretend otherwise is sad. It is like the family who has a child that likes to play on highways suing the driver of the car that hits that child.
