The Brussels-based International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) late on Thursday said that the Pentagon's report on the attack of a U.S. tank on the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad is deceptive, adding, "We condemn such actions."

The IFJ is the world's largest journalists' organization, representing 500,000 journalists in over 100 countries.

In April 2003, a U.S. tank attacked the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad, where most foreign reporters and journalists were based, resulting in the death of two journalists, with several others wounded.

The world condemned the U.S. Army for its recklessness, but the U.S. government described it as only a simple mistake, in total disregard of the gravity of the situation.

Although Washington calls the deadly incident an accident, political analysts believe that the event had been planned to intimidate journalists in that sensitive juncture.

The U.S. military attack on Iraq and its aggression against the Iraqi nation are important events that the international media must cover, yet, through imposing censorship on the media, the United States is trying to hide the realities of the Iraq war from the world.

The U.S. policy of intimidating and placing restrictions on journalists is actually an attempt to control news coverage.

The crimes of the U.S. are not limited to the attack on the Palestine Hotel. Many reporters have been harassed, detained, and even attacked. In an unprecedented move, U.S. troops arrested two Iranian documentary filmmakers in early July, but have refused to provide accurate information about their fate.

U.S. forces have given no acceptable explanation for the arrest of the two Iranian journalists. This is a clear violation of international law.

All of this reveals the hypocrisy of Washington's claims that it seeks to establish peace and promote democracy, freedom, and human rights.