Peter Arnett: "Iraqis ... See Me as a Fellow Warrior."

[Gatekeeper]

Everyone:

The subject line pretty much explains everything regarding this article I plucked off the raw news wires at work tonight. Read through the article and contribute to this thread as you see fit afterwards.

***

Journalist Peter Arnett tells state-run Iraqi TV that American war plan has failed

By DAVID BAUDER
Associated Press Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Journalist Peter Arnett, covering the war from Baghdad, told state-run Iraqi TV in an interview aired Sunday that the American-led coalition’s first war plan had failed because of Iraq’s resistance and said strategists are ‘‘trying to write another war plan.’’

Arnett, who won a Pulitzer Prize reporting in Vietnam for The Associated Press, garnered much of his prominence from covering the 1991 Gulf War for CNN. He is reporting from the Iraqi capital now for NBC and its cable stations.

The interview could make Arnett a target of the war’s supporters. The first Bush administration was unhappy with Arnett’s reporting in 1991 for CNN, suggesting he had become a conveyor of propaganda.

He was denounced for his reporting about an allied bombing of a baby milk factory in Baghdad that the military said was a biological weapons plant. The American military responded vigorously to the suggestion it had targeted a civilian facility, but Arnett stood by his reporting that the plant’s sole purpose was to make baby formula.

NBC, in a statement Sunday, praised Arnett’s ‘‘outstanding’’ reporting from Iraq and said he was trying nothing more than to give an analytical response to an interviewer’s questions.

In the interview, Arnett said his Iraqi friends tell him there is a growing sense of nationalism and resistance to what the United States and Britain are doing.

He said the United States is reappraising the battlefield and delaying the war, maybe for a week, ‘‘and rewriting the war plan. The first war plan has failed because of Iraqi resistance. Now they are trying to write another war plan.’’

‘‘Clearly, the American war plans misjudged the determination of the Iraqi forces,’’ Arnett said during the interview broadcast by Iraq’s satellite television station and monitored by The Associated Press in Egypt.

Arnett said it is clear that within the United States there is growing opposition to the war and a growing challenge to President Bush about the war’s conduct.

‘‘Our reports about civilian casualties here, about the resistance of the Iraqi forces, are going back to the United States,’’ he said. ‘‘It helps those who oppose the war when you challenge the policy to develop their arguments.’’

The interview was broadcast in English and translated by a green military uniform-wearing Iraqi anchor. NBC said Arnett gave the interview when asked shortly after he attended an Iraqi government briefing.

‘‘His impromptu interview with Iraqi TV was done as a professional courtesy and was similar to other interviews he has done with media outlets from around the world,’’ NBC News spokeswoman Allison Gollust said. ‘‘His remarks were analytical in nature and were not intended to be anything more. His outstanding reporting on the war speaks for itself.’’

Sarin gas report

Arnett was the on-air reporter of the 1998 CNN report that accused American forces of using sarin gas on a Laotian village in 1970 to kill U.S. defectors. Two CNN employees were sacked and Arnett was reprimanded over the report, which the station later retracted. Arnett left the network when his contract was not renewed.

He went to Iraq this year not as an NBC News reporter but as an employee of the MSNBC show, ‘‘National Geographic Explorer.’’ When other NBC reporters left Baghdad for safety reasons, the network began airing his reports.

Bitter at CNN

In the April 5 issue of TV Guide, Arnett said he felt he had found redemption reporting on the current war.

‘‘I was furious with (CNN founder) Ted Turner and (then-CNN chairman) Tom Johnson when they threw me to the wolves after I made them billions risking my life to cover the first Gulf War,’’ Arnett told TV Guide.

‘‘Now (Turner and Johnson) are gone, the Iraqis have thrown the CNN crew out of Baghdad, and I’m still here,’’ he said. ‘‘Any satisfaction in that? Ha, ha, ha, ha.’’

He said the Iraqis allowed him to stay in Baghdad because they respect him.

‘‘The Iraqis have let me stay because they see me as a fellow warrior,’’ Arnett said. ‘‘They know I might not agree with them, but I’ve got their respect.’’

***

Well, I certainly hope that Mr. Arnett can use his new status as a "fellow warrior" among the Iraqis to convince them to free the journalists they've got in jail in Baghdad and to, maybe, 'fess up as to where other missing journalists are.

That said, wasn't Arnett given the opportunity to leave Baghdad in 1991 prior to outbreak of hostilities? I believe so, yet he decided to stay (with a few others) and, well, the rest is history. So it's not like the man was forced to stay in Baghdad with a gun to his head. He made the choice to stay, and the man can't say he didn't use the intervening years to parlay that choice into other opportunities, some of which blew up in his face. IOW, he did what CNN did —*made money off of his time in Baghdad, circa 1991.

Gatekeeper

[The Mad Monk]

Drudge had this as topic number one on his radio show. If it's even a moderately slow news day today, Arnett's bait.

[Daz]

Is there any information on these missing/imprisoned journalists? Any names, TV stations they work for? Links apreciated...

[Gatekeeper]

This is the one link to the missing journalists story: http://www.guardian.co.uk/internatio...925171,00.html

[Daz]

You really have to respect these folks. I mean going into Saddams bastion, hoping you`ll not be executed on spot. Gutsy.

I mean, try walking the streets of peaceful Kairo for example with an expensive camera around your neck. And in Baghdad....

[notyoueither]

Watch the man kiss the career good-bye.

[Gatekeeper]

Well, it's what true journalists do; these folks are the ones you *won't* see sitting behind an anchor's desk at CNN, MSNBC, FOX, et al. They're out in the field, getting the stories, sometimes at severe risk to their own health and lives.

Right now my newspaper/online employer has around 50 of my fellow journalists out in the field in and around Iraq. None of them have gone missing or been killed yet, fortunately.

Gatekeeper

[notyoueither]

How many journalists are missing in Baghdad?

[Berzerker]

wasn't Arnett given the opportunity to leave Baghdad in 1991 prior to outbreak of hostilities? I believe so, yet he decided to stay (with a few others) and, well, the rest is history. So it's not like the man was forced to stay in Baghdad with a gun to his head.

Nah, the gun being held to his head had Ted Turner on the other end. Arnett is right, seems to me the war plan has changed due to resistance, we're now sending in another 100,000 troops, need I say more?

[Gatekeeper]

Originally posted by notyoueither
How many journalists are missing in Baghdad?

Doing a quick scan before bedtime ... good news it appears, judging from this link (some of the missing journalists have been found): http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s819668.htm

I'm not sure if there are others missing; I'm guilty of keeping track more closely of my fellows (of which none are missing or dead) from my own employer than others.

Gatekeeper

[Gatekeeper]

Berz:

I guess the question might be: Were these "new" reinforcements included in the original U.S. force totals massing in Kuwait prior to the war, or are they genuinely new reinforcements called up to supplement the existing 250,000 or so personnel we already have in and around Iraq?

Gatekeeper

[notyoueither]

I would say they are part of a contingency for if the Iraqis actually put up a fight.

My guess is they are not the last.

[Tolls]

From what I've read, they were always on the list of troops to deploy, and they would have been there sooner if Rumsfeld hadn't put his oar in and shifted their priority.

[Lincoln]

Arnett ought to move to Iraq. He is certainly not welcome here. His hatred for his home nation cannot be hidden regardless of the spin that NBC puts on it.

[spiritof1202]

Arnett is no longer an NBC/MSNBC journalist. Fired this early this morning

[Lincoln]

Good for NBC. Here is a transcript of his interview:

IRAQI TV HOST: Welcome in Baghdad, and our people know you, know your reports to CNN in 1991. Let us start with a question about the general image that you look now in Iraq.

ARNETT: Well, 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, which has allowed me and many other reporters to cover 12 whole years since the Gulf War with a degree of freedom which we appreciate. And that is continuing today.

HOST: (Translates into Arabic)

ARNETT: In answer to your question, it is clear that within the United States there is growing challenge to President Bush about the conduct of the war and also opposition to the war. So our reports about civilian casualties here, about the resistance of the Iraqi forces, are going back to the United States. It helps those who oppose the war when you challenge the policy to develop their arguments.

HOST: (in Arabic)

ARNETT: One other point. I've been mainly in Baghdad in the past few weeks. But, clearly this is a city that is disciplined, the population is responsive to the government's requirements of discipline and my Iraqi friends tell me there is a growing sense of nationalism and resistance to what the United States and Britain are doing.

HOST: (In Arabic first) What have you seen until now, have you been to some of these places where civilian casualties have been seen during these two days?


Arnett's Iraqi TV interviewer

ARNETT: Yeah, I think American policy and strategy is the weakest when it comes to the Iraqi people. The U.S. administration is concerned with the possibility of killing civilians, because the international community is very concerned about the Iraqi people. 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.

HOST: (In Arabic)

ARNETT: For that reason, the Pentagon keeps saying that the civilian casualties, particularly in Baghdad in the last three or four days, at the market places -- the Pentagon says -- well they are Iraqi missiles that land amongst the people. They keep saying that, but of course the Iraqi government says they are clearly cruise missiles that hit the population.

HOST: (In Arabic)

ARNETT: For that reason the Pentagon keeps saying that maybe it is an Iraqi missile that hit the population and not a U.S.

Whenever I gave a report on civilian casualties on CNN (in the first Gulf War) the Pentagon and the Bush administration got very angry and called me a traitor.

HOST: (In Arabic)

ARNETT: However, when missiles hit the Al-Maria shelter in early February of 1991, killing nearly 400 women and children, the Bush administration had to admit that they were responsible. And when that happened, there was a different attitude to the war. They had to try and complete the war fast, because the world criticized that bombing very severely.

HOST: (In Arabic)

ARNETT: Clearly, the American war planners misjudged the determination of the Iraqi forces.

HOST: (In Arabic)

ARNETT: And I personally do not understand how that happened, because I've been here many times and in my commentaries on television I would tell the Americans about the determination of the Iraqi forces, the determination of the government, and the willingness to fight for their country. But me, and others who felt the same way were not listened to by the Bush administration.

HOST: (In Arabic)

ARNETT: That is why now America is re-appraising the battlefield, delaying the war, maybe a week, and re-writing the war plan. The first war plan has failed because of Iraqi resistance now they are trying to write another war plan.

HOST: Yeah. (Speaks in Arabic) Mr. Arnett Thank you very much. (Speaks in Arabic)

[Az]

God, this guy is a moron. I could understand the reason to oppose the war on humanitarian principles, but he does nothing but to defend the regime.

[Lincoln]

I wonder where Arnett got a copy of the original war plan? General Franks said a key ingredient in the plan was "flexibility". Arnet ought to fight a war sometime so that he knows what he is talking about. No war plan spells out the details of a war from beginning to end. That would take a fortune teller not a war-planner. If more troops are called for then he can be assured that they are ready and trained for this scenario.

[Cookie Monster]

Arnett, another what Lenin would have called a useful idiot.

[Lincoln]

He has supposedly apologized. This is from another forum and I have not verified it:

Arnett apologized to "NBC, MSNBC, National Geographic and the American people," for having given the interview to Iraqi TV.

It wasn't clear exactly what he was apologizing for. He said he didn't realize what a firestorm his comments would cause. But he didn't back away from his statement, made to the Iraqis, that the US plan had "failed." To the contrary, he alleged that Tim Russert had said virtually the same thing in an interview with Katie just before he came on the show.

He said he was not anti-military.

He said since, having been fired by NBC, MSNBC and National Geographic, he could no longer report on the war, he would leave Iraq. "I am not a supporter of the Iraqi regeime and there is nothing now for me to do here."

He actually said, facetiously: "There's a small island in the South Pacific and I plan to swim there."

[gunkulator]

This is what happens when journalists themselves become the news. Arnett was hired by NBC partly because of his celebrity status. Why else would Iraqi TV bother to interview him? And as such, Arnett chose to live the rollercoaster life of a celebrity: up on top one minute, down and out the next.

[Lincoln]

I think it is also part of the trend toward "shock TV". I suppose that the more people you can get to throw things at their TV the better the news is.

[Daz]

I see 3 possible scenarios:

1. He got loads of cash from Saddam, and will shortly leave for that pacific island.

2. He went completely bonkers, and will die in the rubble of the Ministry of Information.

3. He's telling the truth (from his perspective), and will escape Baghdad with Saddam when the time comes.

Either way, he's not planing to return to the states.

[Az]

"There's a small island in the South Pacific and I plan to swim there."

It's called New Zealand. He was born there.

[Sarxis]

Originally posted by Lincoln

It wasn't clear exactly what he was apologizing for. He said he didn't realize what a firestorm his comments would cause. But he didn't back away from his statement, made to the Iraqis, that the US plan had "failed."

A highly opinionated statement, that really (at this point) has very little merit. Of course he should be axed!

Now, if only they can get rid of all the other opinionated bastards blabbering on the air, maybe we could get some real news.

[MichaeltheGreat]

Originally posted by Daz
I see 3 possible scenarios:

How about 4:

If you were in Baghdad being interviewed by a guy in uniform in the midst of several journalists having disappeared, wouldn't you say just about anything they want to hear?

Or 5:

The boy's gone native.

[Drake Tungsten]

As someone already mentioned, Arnett is toast...

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."

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."

National Geographic issued a statement that read:

"The Society did not authorize or have any prior knowledge of Arnett's television interview with Iraqi television, and had we been consulted, would not have allowed it."

The statement went on to say that Arnett's "decision to grant an interview and express his personal views on state-controlled Iraqi television, especially during a time of war, was a serious error in judgment and wrong."

Arnett had been reporting from Baghdad for NBC News and MSNBC while on assignment for National Geographic Explorer.

Monday morning, Arnett appeared on NBC's Today Show with Today co-host Matt Lauer 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 [have] 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 [for] 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 [are] doing."

The longtime war correspondent, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting during the Vietnam War and 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."

http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/...ett/index.html

[Gatekeeper]

If you all thought Arnett had a screw loose in his head, here's something that's even *worse,* IMHO (it's a snippet from a Reuters article that dealt with Arnett's comments):

In another media development, veteran reporter Geraldo Rivera, a correspondent for Fox News, is being removed from Iraq by the U.S. military for reporting Western troop movements in the war, the Pentagon said Monday.

Geraldo Rivera?! A FOX correspondent reporting on critical troop movements?! Is this the heighth of irony or what? The all-news channel that prides itself on being "fair and balanced" (bullsh*t, BTW) has a correspondent that talks freely of troop movements.

A word of advice, Geraldo. Reporting on troop movements won't get you any closer to personally killing Osama bin Laden or, for that matter, Saddam Hussein.

Gatekeeper

[Lonestar]

Yeah, Geraldo's an idiot.

That said, Arnett kinda came off as Jane Fonda-lite.

[srholmes]

I don't really see what is so bad in this interview. I agree that he is probably not in a position to say whether or not the first war plan has failed. But the rest of the interview just talks about his experiences in Iraq.