One of the grimmest days of the Iraq War -- for journalists, anyway -- was when a U.S. tank turned and fired on the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad, a place well-known for housing journalists.

Two journalists died: Taras Protsyuk, a Reuters cameraman and Jose Couso of the Spanish TV network Telecino.

But there were also attacks on Al-Jazeera TV and Abu Dhabi TV that same April 9, 2003 day.

 Here are some stories from what happened at the Palestine Hotel as told to Democracy Now!'s Amy Goodman.

Here is an excerpt from Olga Rodriguez, a Spanish radio reporter, talking about the aftermath of the attack:

... We talked with some soldiers more -- with a lot of soldiers, and we talked about the attack. Some of them said sorry. Most of them didn't know what happened, because they were not part of the same division which was on the bridge. And some of them said, “War is war.” George Bush said that when he was asked by Spanish journalists about the attack against the hotel. He said, “War is war.” But I don't agree with that, because we are not primitive societies. We are part of a civilization -- civil societies, and there are rules even in wars. There are international laws that protect civilian people and journalists. And those rules have to be respected. It's very important for societies to be able to receive information, free information. Because, me, as a journalist, I don't know what I'm going to do if there is another war and my boss says to me, “Go to this war.” I don't know what I'm going to do, because I know that even if I am in a place protected by international law, as the Palestine Hotel was, I know that American troops, which means "friendly fire," can attack me again, because nothing happens. Nothing has happened. This case is not solved. I mean -- and this is very important, because we are talking about freedom and information, which is a foundation of democracy.

Javier Couso is Jose's brother, and he was in the United States to press for an independent inquiry into the attack on the hotel. Here is an excerpt of Javier's conversation with Goodman:

On the 13th of April, they're going to debate this in the European Parliament. Really, the focus on the difference between the case of Giuliana Sgrena, the Italian journalist who was attacked a few weeks ago and the case of the attack on the Hotel Palestine and Jose Couso, why is there going to be a serious investigation apparently into the attack on the Italian journalist but not into the Hotel Palestine?

Finally, some of the script from a Telecinco documentary about the attack.

Notes: Shawn Gibson was commander of the tank that fired the round at the hotel. Chris Tomlinson, Jon Sistiaga and Carlos Hernandez were journalists. Pascale Bourgaux is a Belgian documentarian who had conducted the interview with Gibson.

NARRATOR: From the Palestine Hotel, journalists can see the bridge, but not the areas from which the tanks are fired upon. The U.S. troops fire continuously on the other side of the river. They're being attacked from an area to the left of the bridge and from the Ministry of Youth, 1,500 meters away from the hotel. If, according to the official explanation, they were being attacked from the Palestine Hotel, why did they only fire a single round in that direction throughout the entire morning? At this point, the official version evolves to include the spotter theory.

CHRIS TOMLINSON: It was at that point that Captain Wolford's men had captured an Iraqi prisoner who had a radio. They were monitoring -- they had an Arab linguist – an Arab American listening to the radio, listening to what they call a “forward observer,” someone calling in the mortar fire and directing the infantrymen in their attack against Captain Wolford's forces.

SHAWN GIBSON: Then I went to scan higher. I started going by the floors. I seen no one until I get to the upper third floor. I see somebody up there with a pair of big binoculars, and I see them pointing.

JON SISTIAGA: All war correspondents carry binoculars for just that kind of a thing. To spot a tank two kilometers away, and to tell the cameraman that there is a tank over there.

CARLOS HERNANDEZ: [translated] It was simply ridiculous that they should think that the tank position coordinates were actually being given from the hotel. You could see the tanks from just about anywhere in the city.

NARRATOR: Did Gibson see a journalist with binoculars and think he was an enemy spotter? It could be an excuse, but surprisingly, the sergeant goes on to assert that there were no journalists on the balconies.

PASCALE BOURGAUX: You didn't see it was a camera?

SHAWN GIBSON: There was no camera. I seen binoculars.

PASCALE BOURGAUX: The camera on the balconies.

SHAWN GIBSON: Like this one? Negative. A person don’t stand like this with two hands in front of their eyes with just a camera. Okay? I seen two lenses and their hands up holding it. It looked like binoculars to me.  ...

SHAWN GIBSON: I wish it would have never happened, but it has happened. And I pray to God and I ask God for his forgiveness, and my sincere apologies and grievances to their families. It was not done intentionally.