On Thursday, photographer Namir Noor-Eldeen, 22, and driver Saeed Chmagh, 40, of the Reuters Baghdad bureau were killed in the eastern part of the city. This brings to six, the number of Reuters journalists and staffers that have been killed since the beginning of the war in Iraq - all too often as a result of "friendly fire".
To me the journalists who work for Reuters in Iraq and other conflict zones are true heroes. Working under incredibly dangerous conditions, they risk their lives to tell the world what is going on in their country. Here are some excerpts from how Namir's and Saeed's colleagues remember them:
"However I describe this man I will not be doing him justice. If you asked him for money, he would borrow off someone else to help you out. He always felt an obligation to help the weak."
"I knew him before the war even began. He was a man of principles and high values. He used to always think of his family, especially his mother and father who needed constant medical care after his younger brother died in an accident. He was the only man who supported them and three other families.":
"[He] was a very humble and polite gentleman. He was a very loyal friend who was there for you at every moment. [He] supported three families as well as his parents but never complained of the burden and even committed himself to helping other families in his neighborhood.
We are assaulted in many parts of the world with some truly awful gossip mongering and celebrity stalking that passes as news; we should not forget the noble members of the profession who literally die to tell the story.