The family of British journalist Terry Lloyd today said he was murdered by US forces after a coroner found the ITN reporter had been unlawfully killed.
But Washington insisted the killing of was in line with acceptable rules of engagement.
Mr Lloyd (50) was killed, together with Lebanese interpreter Hussein Osman and French cameraman Fred Nerac, near the Shatt al Basra Bridge outside Iraq's second city of Basra on March 22nd, 2003.
The TV reporter was shot in the back after getting caught up in US and Iraqi crossfire and then shot in the head by US forces as he was taken away in a minibus for medical treatment.
Oxfordshire Assistant Deputy Coroner Andrew Walker said: "I have no doubt that it was an unlawful act to fire on this minibus."
He said he would write to the Attorney General and the Director of Public Prosecutions "to see whether any steps can be taken to bring the perpetrators responsible for this to justice".
Speaking outside the inquest, Mr Lloyd's daughter, Chelsey, said: "We have waited for three-and-a-half years to hear the truth of how and why my father died whilst trying to report the war for millions of viewers back home.
"The killing of my father would seem to amount to murder, which is deeply shocking."
Her mother, Lynn, added: "The evidence has shown that this was no friendly fire, blue-on-blue incident or a crossfire incident. It was a despicable, deliberate and vengeful act, particularly as it came after the end of the initial exchanges in which Mr Lloyd was hit by an Iraqi bullet.
"The verdict of unlawful killing was inescapable and came about because US forces appear to have allowed their soldiers to behave like trigger-happy cowboys in an area in which there were civilians travelling on a highway, both Iraqi and European.
"The marines who fired on civilians and those who gave those orders should now stand trial. Under the Geneva Conventions Act, that trial should be for the murder of Terry Lloyd and nothing else," she said.
Both Mr Lloyd's family and ITN reiterated the coroner's calls for the British authorities to bring those responsible for his death to justice.
But a US defence department spokesman said an investigation completed in May 2003 "determined that US forces followed the applicable rules of engagement".
"It has been an unfortunate reality that journalists have died in Iraq [but] we do not, nor would we ever, deliberately target a non-combatant civilian or journalist."
The coroner found that Mr Lloyd died in the first hail of bullets as he and his team were intercepted by an Iraqi pick-up truck with mounted machine gun.
Despite being in a marked TV vehicle, Mr Walker said the initial US actions could be considered "self-defence".
But the troops also opened fire on the civilian minibus picking up casualties, even though it "presented no threat to American forces".
He said: "I have no doubt it was the fact that the vehicle stopped to pick up survivors that prompted the Americans to fire at the vehicle. I am sure it was the intention of those who opened fire to kill or cause serious injury to those inside the minibus."
The coroner added that he attached no blame for what happened to Mr Lloyd's ITN bosses, saying the company had prepared fully for the mission.