Former CNN reporter says U.S. war planners ignored Iraqi resistance

AP WorldStream via COMTEX ^ | 3-30-03

[Oldeconomybuyer]

CAIRO, Egypt, Mar 30, 2003 (AP WorldStream via COMTEX) -- A former CNN journalist told state-run Iraqi TV that U.S. war planners had misjudged Iraq's determination to stand up to the American-led coalition's invasion force.

"Clearly, the American war plans misjudged the determination of the Iraqi forces," Peter Arnett said during the interview aired Sunday by Iraq's satellite television station and monitored by The Associated Press in Egypt.

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

During his prerecorded Baghdad studio interview, which was translated by a green military uniform-wearing Iraqi anchor, Arnett said the Bush administration had ignored his and other reports about "the determination of the Iraqi armed forces and the government willingness to fight for their country."

It was not immediately clear when the interview was conducted.

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 ultimately left the network.

Arnett established close contacts with Iraqi government officials during his several visits to Iraq, but was unable to reflect anti-government sentiments through private interviews with Iraqis without the presence of Information Ministry minders.

President George Bush, the current U.S. leader's father, accused Arnett of being a "traitor" over what he considered were pro-Iraqi reports during the 1991 conflict.

"Whenever I gave a report (in 1991) of civilian casualties or civilian installations destroyed and casualties created, the Pentagon and Bush administration got very angry and called me traitor," he said on Iraqi Television.

Of the current conflict, Arnett also said the current U.S. invasion plan had failed and that American military strategists are now "trying to write another war plan."

[Howlin]

I am at the point where I despise every single person assocaited with the press, regardless of WHAT their positions are.

They are all bloodsuckers, IMO.


With the exception of Fox, of course, but if they don't stop having so many damn liberals on there, I might have to put them on the list, too.

[cake_crumb]

Arnett, a cheap, shallow, money-grubbing POS is charming??? Oh, that is just gross. Trotta sounds like a bird of Arnett's feather. I'm gonna log off and go to bed and have nightmares now.

[rivercat]

Here's the phone number for National Geographic's Customer Service line: 1.800.NGS-LINE

[MEG33]

Thanks...He comes off as incredibly stupid.

[cake_crumb]

"His actions border on aiding and abetting the enemy. PERIOD!"

BORDERS ON?? You're being kind.

[engrpat]

Done...emailed NBC, MSNBC and NatGeo. I am still speechless, can not what believe what I heard.

[StarFan]

See my comments in #112.

Howlin, you are echoing my sentiments. I was willing to overlook Greta, but with Whorealdo getting his own show and inviting Dershoshits, and now the reemergence of the Xlintoon cronies (Lanny Davis, Eleanor Clift, Ann (?) Franks, etc.) I keep verifying I haven't switched to MSNBC. All we need is to see Julian Epstein and goodbye Fox.

[MeekOneGOP]

[M Kehoe]

Sedition from the left seems epidemic. Maybe someone should start a list of names and addresses.

5.56mm

[webber]

"Any chance he had a gun to his head during this "interview"? I wouldn't put it past the Iraqi regime to put this out as propaganda."

I've watched this traitors interview on "Ha Satan Television 3 times, and let me tell you this interview was not, was NOT done under coercion. It was a pompous ass trying to take credit for single-handedly raising American and world opposition to the war. His facial expression showed glee at what he said, not apprehension. He said what he said because he wanted to say it. PERIOD!

[spectre]

"Peter is a whore"

I agree, but listen to what he thinks of himself:

"San Diego Jewish Press-Heritage, Oct. 3, 1997    By Marsha Sutton San Diego (special) "The Gulf War was the 17th one Arnett covered as a journalist and is probably his most famous. He is author of a book on this war entitled Live from the Battlefield .  About his now-famous CNN interview with Saddam Hussein, Arnett said that even though he took great care to formulate tough questions and not to be too deferential, he was attacked at home for letting Saddam Hussein present the Iraqi viewpoint.

He said he was accused by some of being a traitor (a "Benedict Arnett," as one letter read). One woman in Kentucky even wrote him to say that all her houseplants inexplicably died while he was on TV broadcasting the interview."

(Article dates back 6 years!)

[StarFan]

One woman in Kentucky even wrote him to say that all her houseplants inexplicably died while he was on TV broadcasting the interview. LOL, that's quite creative.

[rivercat]

Here's a list of some of the National Geographic Kids Magazine's advertisers:

Kellogg's
Nickelodeon
Universal Interactive
Crayola
Tony's Pizza

[Texas Chrystal]

I subscribe...let the FREEP begin!

E-mail addresses:
viewerservices@msnbc.com
Natgeoexplorer@msnbc.com
world@msnbc.com

Dear National Geographic Explorer,

Peter Arnett is a disgrace to America. His job is to report the news, not spread propaganda for the enemy on Iraqi TV. I will resign my membership in the National Geographic Society and I will stop watching MSNBC and NBC if you continue to employ this person. Arnett has stepped way over the line, and it's time for NGE and MSNBC to do what's right. If you don't I will join the mass exodus to FoxNews and I will encourage all of my family, friends and colleagues to do the same. I will post my response to his "interview" on activist websites.
Mainstream America is tired of this kind of behavior and we will be heard!
Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Chrystal Leamon
Dallas, TX
Co-Signed:
Timothy Stevens
Paula Stevens
Tyler, TX

[Claire Voyant]

Arnett is the one who tried to FOOL the world by showing the sign on the bombed sight ...the sign said "Baby Milk Factory"....in ENGLISH!!! The Iraqis might have made the sign, but it was the PATHETIC Peter...Peter the Pathetic...who showed the sign as a TRUTH!!!

Peter the Pathetic.....pass it on.

[spectre]

Must have been a FReeper! LOL.

sw

[Howlin]

I'm sitting here wondering exactly what the difference in OUR press and theirs is.

[clouda]

Don't forget General Electric, they own NBC.

https://www.ge.com/ge/feedback.htm

[Howlin]

Have you got a link to that?

[Claire Voyant]

Brian Williams is STUPID......and he's not even clever.....his hatred is not even concealed. I refuse to watch him.