Wife of missing TV man quiz U.S.
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Lloyd lost his life in the shooting
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PARIS, France (AP) -- The wife of a French television cameraman, Fred Nerac, who went missing in Iraq said Friday she does not understand why the United States will not provide information about the fate of her husband.
Fabienne Nerac told reporters in Paris that she has proof her husband's car came under fire from coalition troops near the Iraqi city of Basra, and that a U.S. armored vehicle probed the scene of the accident shortly afterward.
"It is clear for us ... that the Americans and the British know something and that they certainly have something to tell us," she said. Nerac said she asked French President Jacques Chirac during a 40-minute meeting Friday to put pressure on Washington.
On March 22, ITN reporter Terry Lloyd was killed when the car came under fire outside Basra. ITN believes he was killed by "friendly fire" from British or U.S. forces. Two colleagues -- Nerac and Hussein Osman, of Lebanon -- remain missing, but a fourth member of the team escaped with minor injuries only.
Nerac also pressed U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell at a news conference in Brussels on Thursday to find out what happened to her husband.
Powell told Nerac Thursday he does not know where her husband is but that "we will do everything we can to find out what happened."
Nerac said she received a phone call Friday from a U.S. diplomat in Brussels assuring her that Powell would be true to his word, and that he has already contacted U.S. Central Command in Doha, Qatar.
"I believe Mr. Powell is extremely sensitive and humane," Nerac said. "My feeling is that he will do everything possible to give me an answer."
But, she added, "we are wondering why the Americans and the British are not telling us anything. Is it the fact that the accident involved the press?"
Deborah Turness of ITN in London said that in similar cases the United States had openly admitted friendly fire was to blame, "explained what happened, apologized and moved on."
"In this case, they haven't even acknowledged the incident took place," she said. "We really don't understand why they are being so cagey."
ITN says that a private security company's search of the site in southern Iraq concluded the team came under fire from both coalition and Iraqi forces.
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