CNN - Iraq Sought To Assassinate CNN Reporters

CNN | 04-10-03 | Tall_Texan

[Tall_Texan]

CNN's Aaron Brown has a producer on who has been in Jordan and is now back in the US. He reports that there was a plot to blow up CNN's reporters and technicians who were trying to get a report in Kurdish-controlled Iraq.

Baghdad Bob made threats against the producer, whose last name is Jordan. After CNN was kicked out of Iraq last month and Hussein was overthrown, CNN obtained taped confessions from the men sent to blow up their newspeople.

The Iraqis believed the CNN unit was working for the CIA. According to Jordan, they were convinced of it.

Brown has moved on to another segment but I hope this will be replayed. The threats began in December but they chose to reveal it only now when they feel there is no chance of reprisal.

Hopefully, a link or some web content will appear to back up my report.

[The Hon. Galahad Threepwood]

Here is a NYT editorial by CNN's "chief news executive" (free registration required).

I posted this on the Command Post blog:

This pretty much gives the lie to the "brave journalists in Baghdad to bring the world the truth" claim. In fact, CNN now admits that A) they have routinely suppressed the hideous truth about the Baghdad regime precisely because there were CNN people in Iraq, and B) their presence routinely got Iraqis tortured and killed.

One wonders why they were willing to risk Iraqi lives and prostitute themselves to Saddam's regime just to be able to say, "We have people in Baghdad."

I wish I could believe they would engage in some soul-searching about this, but their arrogance and self-righteousness is such that I cannot imagine it happening.

American journalism is a cesspool.

[faithincowboys]

This has got to be at Peter Arnett's direction. Hell have no fury like a weenie scorned.

[nhoward14]

He probably is. I just hate the fact that every time I find a show I like a lot like the Baghdad Bob show it gets canceled. :)

[cookcounty]

Predictably, Nightline did not mention this, nor the Arnott story about planted child casualties by Saddam.

[CyberAnt]

Boy, can I relate!

I found this really great bath gel - lo and behold, they discontinued it. Then I find out Ben and Jerry's has discontinued my favorite ice cream (Triple Carmel Chunk). That's just two of about a dozen things this year alone which have been cancelled - right after I discovered how wonderful they were. Bummer!!

[TaRaRaBoomDeAyGoreLostToday!]

Is this the same story?

[Tall_Texan]

Yes! Thank you. Here was the most relevant portion:

Last December, when I told Information Minister Muhammad Said al-Sahhaf that we intended to send reporters to Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq, he warned me they would "suffer the severest possible consequences." CNN went ahead, and in March, Kurdish officials presented us with evidence that they had thwarted an armed attack on our quarters in Erbil. This included videotaped confessions of two men identifying themselves as Iraqi intelligence agents who said their bosses in Baghdad told them the hotel actually housed C.I.A. and Israeli agents.

I think it was Brown that was using the word "assassinate".

[Contra]

CNN was (and still is) Saddam's best friend, so this makes no sense. But I will say that what better cover than a sickening leftist like Peter Arnett or Scott Ritter to be working for the CIA, somebody who had a lot of access around Iraq and who may have been able to provide useful information to the USA. Of course I find it hard to believe that Arnett, Ritter or any CNN reporter would be a CIA operative because I truly believe they are just anti-American, but what if that was just an effective cover, because after all, they are very convincingly anti-American. Oh, by the way, Ritter was on CNN today but I missed him, the criminal pedophile has resurfaced.

[weegee]

Also see this:

The News We (CNN) Kept To Ourselves (From the NY Times)

[weegee]

Pacifica Radio or NPR could use a host like Baghdad Bob if only he could shift his rants to American political parties.

Maybe this is what James Carville was doing in the Middle East, he was scouting new talent.

[A CA Guy]

The good news is they are all paranoid as to the true reach of the American government. That is not a bad thing.

[RasterMaster]

CNN will do anything to boost their saggy ratings....which is all this is about. They probably had to beat confessions out of these folks or put a gun to their head. Is Bagdad Bob in charge CNN now?

[Timesink]

Most of you have seen this, but I want to make sure NOBODY misses it. This "Oh, The Suffering We Go Through To Bring You The News" BS was put up on CNN precisely to draw attention away from this: CNN let human beings be tortured and killed in order to keep their bureau open in Baghdad.

Let me say that again:

CNN LET HUMAN BEINGS BE TORTURED AND KILLED in order to keep their bureau open in Baghdad, nothing more.

[Timesink]

Oh, as long as I'm here:

This morning's LA TImes attempts to save their CNN Fellow Travelers by launching an attack on Fox News, which is about as effective in stopping Fox as a tecnhical is at stopping an Abrams tank.

[TaRaRaBoomDeAyGoreLostToday!]

bump

[Spook86]

Don't forget: that tank that supposedly fired on the Hotel Palestine--where journalists were forced to stay by Saddam's regime--had to literally shoot around a corner to hit the building. The source for this? No less than a BBC correspondent in Baghdad who took the time to examine the blast damage and calculate the required angle for the 120 mm shell to hit the building. Of course, the mainstream press ignored his careful analysis, since it repudiates the "military is killing the messenger mantra."

A couple of thoughts. First, it's obvious that the BBC correspondent has no future at his network, since he is clearly determined to report the truth. Secondly, I've heard that several correspondents, who went to Baghdad courtesy of the U.S. military, are now "unembedded" and roaming about on their own. Rest assured; one (or more) of them will get plugged by Fedayeen in the coming days, and then the media will blame the U.S. military for "failing" to protect them....

[JFC]

CNN will do ANYTHING for ratings, they are snakes sliding through the grass. They are not our friends!

[bonesmccoy]

Thanks for the information on CNN's atrocities in Baghdad in the thread from the NY Times letter http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/890515/posts

Can US law be applied to AOL Time Warner's complicity in these atrocities?

It is certainly immoral to have US corporations involved in this type of deceit. But is it illegal? What can we do to hold AOL's leadership accountable for the lives damaged by their complicity?

[Tall_Texan]

It is certainly immoral to have US corporations involved in this type of deceit. But is it illegal? What can we do to hold AOL's leadership accountable for the lives damaged by their complicity?

Illegal in what way? That they paid their way into Iraq? That they allowed themselves to be propaganda tools? That they kept their mouth shut about atrocities going on?

If they are guilty of that in Iraq, hom much more guilty of that are they in Cuba or China? The difference, of course, is that practically every other media outlet is guilty of the same thing. It's not just at CNN - it's true of CBS, NBC, ABC, Wash. Post, L.A. Times, N.Y. Times, etc. So if you want to punish AOL Time Warner, don't stop there. Punish Viacom, General Electric, New York Times Corp, even NewsCorp (Fox, Sky News, N.Y. Post, etc.). As far as I can tell, they're all guilty of this to one degree or another.

[js1138]

Here's a link to an ongoing FR discussion, along with the full article. click