[CTRL] NBC TV fires Arnett for telling truth about Iraq
-Caveat Lector- --- Forwarded message follows --- To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED] From: Nicholas Wilson [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date sent: Mon, 31 Mar 2003 09:18:30 -0800 Subject:!b_a_Act: NBC TV fires Arnett for telling truth about Iraq war Send reply to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [ Double-click this line for list subscription options ] Published on Monday, March 31, 2003 by CNN NBC: Arnett Out After Iraqi TV Interview BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- NBC announced Monday that both NBC and National Geographic severed their relationships with veteran war correspondent Peter Arnett. In an interview that aired on Iraqi TV Sunday, Arnett said that the U.S. war plan has failed because of Iraqi resistance. Now they are trying to write another war plan. Clearly, the American war planners misjudged the determination of the Iraqi forces. Photo caption: American television network NBC said on March 31, 2003 it had severed its relations with veteran reporter Peter Arnett after he told Iraqi television that the U.S. war plan against Saddam Hussein had failed. 'Peter Arnett will no longer be reporting for NBC News and MSNBC,' NBC said in a joint statement with National Geographic, for whom the Pulitzer prize-winning reporter was also working. Arnett is seen in this March 26 video still. (NBC via Reuters) On Sunday, NBC News had issued a statement supporting Arnett, saying that Arnett gave the interview to Iraqi TV as a professional courtesy and that his remarks were analytical in nature and were not intended to be anything more. But a day later, NBC issued a different statement. It was wrong for him to grant an interview to state-run Iraqi TV, especially in a time of war. Arnett is not an NBC News reporter but an employee of the MSNBC show, National Geographic Explorer, according to The Associated Press. The network began airing Arnett's reports after NBC reporters evacuated Baghdad. Monday morning, Arnett appeared on NBC's Today Show and apologized for his comments. I want to apologize to the American people for clearly making a misjudgment over the weekend by giving an interview to Iraqi Television, said Arnett, who added that what he said in the interview was what we all know about the war. There have been delays in implementing policy and there's been surprises. But clearly by giving that interview to Iraqi Television, I created a firestorm in the United States and for that I am truly sorry, Matt, he said. During the Sunday interview, Arnett also said that Iraq had given him and other reporters a degree of freedom which we appreciate. Iraq has expelled several journalists, including CNN's Baghdad team, and apparently has imprisoned two journalists from the New York newspaper Newsday. Arnett is a member of the Board of Directors of the Committee to Protect Journalists, which is trying to locate the missing journalists. During the Iraqi TV interview, Arnett said, I'd like to say from the beginning that the 12 years I've been coming here, I've met unfailing courtesy and cooperation, courtesy from your people and cooperation from the Ministry of Information. Arnett told the Iraqi TV interviewer, who was dressed in an Iraqi Army uniform, that President Bush is facing a growing challenge about the conduct of the war within the United States. President Bush says he is concerned about the Iraqi people, but if Iraqi people are dying in numbers, then American policy will be challenged very strongly, he said. In the interview, Arnett said reports from Baghdad about civilians being killed are being shown in the United States, and it helps those who oppose the war when you challenge the policy to develop their arguments. He pointed out U.S. claims that civilians killed in an explosion at a downtown Baghdad market were the victims of Iraqi missiles, and that Iraq had said the missiles were definitely incoming coalition fire. Arnett also said clearly this is a city that is disciplined, the population is responsive to the government's requirements of discipline, and Iraqi friends tell me there is a growing sense of nationalism and resistance to what the United States and Britain is doing. The longtime war correspondent, who reported on the Persian Gulf War for CNN in 1991, said U.S. war planners miscalculated the will of Iraqis and he does not understand how that happened. He said his reports would tell the Americans about the determination of the Iraqi forces, the determination of the government and the willingness to fight for their country. Copyright 2003 CNN --- End of forwarded message --- News alternatives to US war propaganda: http://www.aeronautics.ru/news/news002/news081.htm http://www.aeronautics.ru/news/news002/news082.htm http://www.truthout.org/ http://www.aljazeerah.info/ http://www.overthrow.com/ http://globalfire.tv/nj/03en/politics/content.htm A
Re: [CTRL] NBC TV fires Arnett for telling truth about Iraq
-Caveat Lector- I heard there are quite a number of vacancies at Saddam's Daily Mirror. Dave. - Original Message - From: Steve Wingate [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, March 31, 2003 1:28 PM Subject: [CTRL] NBC TV fires Arnett for telling truth about Iraq -Caveat Lector- --- Forwarded message follows --- To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED] From: Nicholas Wilson [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date sent: Mon, 31 Mar 2003 09:18:30 -0800 Subject:!b_a_Act: NBC TV fires Arnett for telling truth about Iraq war Send reply to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [ Double-click this line for list subscription options ] Published on Monday, March 31, 2003 by CNN NBC: Arnett Out After Iraqi TV Interview BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- NBC announced Monday that both NBC and National Geographic severed their relationships with veteran war correspondent Peter Arnett. In an interview that aired on Iraqi TV Sunday, Arnett said that the U.S. war plan has failed because of Iraqi resistance. Now they are trying to write another war plan. Clearly, the American war planners misjudged the determination of the Iraqi forces. Photo caption: American television network NBC said on March 31, 2003 it had severed its relations with veteran reporter Peter Arnett after he told Iraqi television that the U.S. war plan against Saddam Hussein had failed. 'Peter Arnett will no longer be reporting for NBC News and MSNBC,' NBC said in a joint statement with National Geographic, for whom the Pulitzer prize-winning reporter was also working. Arnett is seen in this March 26 video still. (NBC via Reuters) On Sunday, NBC News had issued a statement supporting Arnett, saying that Arnett gave the interview to Iraqi TV as a professional courtesy and that his remarks were analytical in nature and were not intended to be anything more. But a day later, NBC issued a different statement. It was wrong for him to grant an interview to state-run Iraqi TV, especially in a time of war. Arnett is not an NBC News reporter but an employee of the MSNBC show, National Geographic Explorer, according to The Associated Press. The network began airing Arnett's reports after NBC reporters evacuated Baghdad. Monday morning, Arnett appeared on NBC's Today Show and apologized for his comments. I want to apologize to the American people for clearly making a misjudgment over the weekend by giving an interview to Iraqi Television, said Arnett, who added that what he said in the interview was what we all know about the war. There have been delays in implementing policy and there's been surprises. But clearly by giving that interview to Iraqi Television, I created a firestorm in the United States and for that I am truly sorry, Matt, he said. During the Sunday interview, Arnett also said that Iraq had given him and other reporters a degree of freedom which we appreciate. Iraq has expelled several journalists, including CNN's Baghdad team, and apparently has imprisoned two journalists from the New York newspaper Newsday. Arnett is a member of the Board of Directors of the Committee to Protect Journalists, which is trying to locate the missing journalists. During the Iraqi TV interview, Arnett said, I'd like to say from the beginning that the 12 years I've been coming here, I've met unfailing courtesy and cooperation, courtesy from your people and cooperation from the Ministry of Information. Arnett told the Iraqi TV interviewer, who was dressed in an Iraqi Army uniform, that President Bush is facing a growing challenge about the conduct of the war within the United States. President Bush says he is concerned about the Iraqi people, but if Iraqi people are dying in numbers, then American policy will be challenged very strongly, he said. In the interview, Arnett said reports from Baghdad about civilians being killed are being shown in the United States, and it helps those who oppose the war when you challenge the policy to develop their arguments. He pointed out U.S. claims that civilians killed in an explosion at a downtown Baghdad market were the victims of Iraqi missiles, and that Iraq had said the missiles were definitely incoming coalition fire. Arnett also said clearly this is a city that is disciplined, the population is responsive to the government's requirements of discipline, and Iraqi friends tell me there is a growing sense of nationalism and resistance to what the United States and Britain is doing. The longtime war correspondent, who reported on the Persian Gulf War for CNN in 1991, said U.S. war planners miscalculated the will of Iraqis and he does not understand how that happened. He said his reports would tell the Americans about the determination of the Iraqi forces, the determination of the government and the willingness to fight for their country. Copyright 2003 CNN --- End
Re: [CTRL] NBC TV fires Arnett for telling truth about Iraq
-Caveat Lector- 3/31/2003 3:28:41 PM, Steve Wingate [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- NBC announced Monday that both NBC and National Geographic severed their relationships with veteran war correspondent Peter Arnett. Arnett was none too popular during the 1st Gulf War (as if it ever ended) either. He was one who chose to remain in Baghdad to report from their side. It's not a matter of being on or taking their side; it's where the story is. Don't forget that he was one of three people (John Holloman and Bernie Shaw being the others) who hung out on the roof of the Al Rasheed hotel in Baghdad while the Americans laid waste to that city in Jan 1991. I would suggest he's been under stress and pressure once or twice before. Now, this is not to say that he -- like all other mediacratisers -- should be without scrutiny. Even he admits he has had minders. ~~~ The following is mirrored from its source at: http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=263972 contrassID=2subContrassID=4sbSubContrassID=0listSrc=Y The Goebbels of Saddam's regime by Peter Arnett, Haaretz.com, HaaretzEnglish Edition, 25 February 2003 It all started with the baby-milk plant story. Up to then, the Bush administration had been enthusiastically supportive of CNN's coverage of the 1991 bombing of Baghdad. Our live reports from the ninth floor of the al-Rashid Hotel suggested that the numerous cruise missiles and bombs daily hammering the Iraqi capital were finding their designated targets, namely command and control centers, military barracks and Saddam Hussein's palaces and bunkers. Our reports seemed to confirm Pentagon assessments that civilian casualties were nil. But on Day 4, bombs rained down on an industrial plant on the outskirts of Baghdad, and the honeymoon was over. I was driven to the location by my Iraqi minder along with a WTN film crew. We pulled off the highway past a large, faded poster of Saddam Hussein comforting a distressed child. The entrance bore a crudely lettered sign reading baby milk plant in English and Arabic. The structure was barely recognizable as a building. The sheet aluminum walls and roof had been ripped off and scattered in the yard. The steel roof girders were twisted and blackened. The machinery underneath was a tangled molten pile. The plant had been empty of workers at the time. Iraqi officials said the factory produced 20 tons of milk powder per day for the children of the capital. They showed us plastic spoon-making machines with their output scattered. I was walking up to my ankles in white powder. Documents lying around described the product as a mixture of malt, sugar extract and milk. I picked up an armful of intact packets to distribute to kids back at our hotel. It looked like an innocent production plant to me. That night I reported to CNN on my satellite phone what the Iraqis told me: that the plant was the only source of infant formula in Baghdad and was not a legitimate target. And I went to bed. When I awakened in the morning, I tuned in to BBC radio, and discovered that I had reported one of the most controversial stories of my career. White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater called me a liar. President George Bush himself had watched the report, Fitzwater declared, and was not pleased. The installation was not producing milk powder, as the Iraqis claimed, but was a production facility for biological weapons, said Fitzwater. And as for CNN reporter Peter Arnett, he was a conduit for Iraqi disinformation. So began a war of words. The baby-milk plant was just the first of an avalanche of images from inside Iraq that seemed to give the lie to the Pentagon's repeated boasts that its new generation of weaponry was mistake-proof. Day 8, three houses and their inhabitants were destroyed in Baghdad. Day 9, several city blocks were bombed in a town north of Baghdad, with many dozens dead. Day 10, more bombings of homes in Najaf. CNN was bearing the brunt of official wrath because it was regularly scooping the competition and attracting large audiences with its coverage. Coalition military commander General Norman Schwarzkopf solved his moral dilemma by turning off CNN in his command bunker. The Bush administration, well aware that America's viewers were fixated on the war coverage, orchestrated an elaborate campaign of character assassination. I was denounced on the floor of Congress. Representative Laurence Coughlin of Pennslyvania said: Arnett is the Joseph Goebbels of Saddam Hussein's Hitler-like regime. The CNN president received a letter from 34 congressmen who charged that my coverage gives a demented dictator a propaganda mouthpiece to over 100 nations. Conservative members of the British Parliament compared me to turncoats of the Second World War. And there was much more. My critics' rationale was that my observations were either direct lies or, if they were backed up by video, then the incidents themselves had been fabricated
