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THIS WAR IS NOT WORKING (Arnett Already Writing in The Mirror!!!!)
The.mirror.co.ok ^ | 4/1/03 | Peter Arnett

Posted on 03/31/2003 5:56:51 PM PST by ladysusan

THIS WAR IS NOT WORKING

Apr 1 2003

By Peter Arnett

I am still in shock and awe at being fired. There is enormous sensitivity within the US government to reports coming out from Baghdad.

They don't want credible news organisations reporting from here because it presents them with enormous problems.

I reported on the original bombing for NBC and we were half a mile away from those massive explosions. Now I am really shocked that I am no longer reporting this story for the US and awed by the fact that it actually happened.

That overnight my successful NBC reporting career was turned to ashes. And why?

Because I stated the obvious to Iraqi television; that the US war timetable has fallen by the wayside.

I have made those comments to television stations around the world and now I'm making them again in the Daily Mirror.

I'm not angry. I'm not crying. But I'm also awed by this media phenomenon.

The right-wing media and politicians are looking for any opportunity to be critical of the reporters who are here, whatever their nationality. I made the misjudgment which gave them the opportunity to do so.

I gave an impromptu interview to Iraqi television feeling that after four months of interviewing hundreds of them it was only professional courtesy to give them a few comments.

That was my Waterloo - bang!

I have not yet decided what to do, whether to pack my bags and leave Baghdad or stay on.

I'll decide what to do today, right now I'm chewing on what has happened to me.

But whatever happens I will never stop reporting on the truth of this war whether I am in Baghdad or somewhere else in the Middle East - or even back in Washington.

I was here in 1991 and the bombing is very similar to that conflict but the reality is very different.

The US and British want to come here, take over the city, upturn the government and take us through to a new era. The troops are in the country and fighting there way up here. It creates a very different atmosphere.

The Ba'ath party, currently led by Saddam Hussein, has been in power for 34 years. Tariq Aziz told me the US will have to brainwash 25 million Iraqis because these people think exactly the same as Saddam does.

Maybe he is wrong, maybe not.

For months, Iraqis have said officially and privately: "We will fight the Americans, we will use guerrilla tactics, we will surprise them."

But the Iraqi opposition has said: "This will be a pushover, everyone wants to rebel against Saddam."

Now the reality is being played out on the battlefield.

We have to watch the reality now and some Iraqis are fighting and the government does seem very determined. For me to see that and to be criticised for saying the obvious is unfair.

But it has made me a target for my critics in the States who accuse me of giving aid and comfort to the enemy.

I don't want to give aid and comfort to the enemy - I just want to be able to tell the truth.

I came to Baghdad with my crew because the Iraqi side needs to be heard too.

It is clear the original timetable that America would be in Baghdad by the end of March has fallen by the wayside.

There is clearly debate in the US about this, reinforcements are being sent in and there are delays.

This doesn't mean it is going badly. Every casualty is a loss but they have been in limited numbers so far.

Every night and every day I hear the B-52s and the missiles hammering the defences Baghdad.

Just like in Afghanistan and Vietnam, the US is bringing enormous firepower to bear which it believes will grind the Iraqis down. I have seen it before and it has been enormously effective. The US optimism is justified.

On the other hand, at what cost to civilians ?

During the Tet Offensive in Vietnam, I entered a US-held town which had been totally destroyed.

The Viet Cong had taken over and were threatening the commander's building so he called down an artillery strike which killed many of his own men.

The Major with us asked: "How could this happen?" A soldier replied: "Sir, we had to destroy the town to save it."

The Bush and Blair administration does not want that label stuck on this war, it is a liberation for them. But the problem is US Marines at checkpoints are suspicious of every man, woman and child because of the suicide bomb.

Already there is suspicion growing.

And in the south, there have not been popular rebellions and uprisings. As the battle for Baghdad grows, the potential for civilian casualties grows.

This is the spectre rising as this war continues. The US and Britain have to figure this out.

I don't think you can tell how it will end, there are many scenarios. A siege of Baghdad... a special operations strike on Saddam. Optimists in the Pentagon talk about an internal coup.

Who would have had believed Umm Qasr would hold out for six days or US Marines directing traffic would be killed by a suicide bomber? This is more like the West Bank and Gaza and it could become like that in some areas.

The US and Britain must avoid that scenario.

Forces come in, communities resist, then suicide bombing and resistance from guerrillas.

Except the Iraqis will be putting up a stiffer fight than the Palestinians because they are better armed.

We know the world, including many Americans, is ambivalent about this war and I think it is essential to be here.

I'm not here to be a superstar. I have been there in 1991 and could never be bigger than that.

Some reporters make judgements but that is not my style. I present both sides and report what I see with my own eyes.

I don't blame NBC for their decision because they came under great commercial pressure from the outside.

And I certainly don't believe the White House was responsible for my sacking.

But I want to tell the story as best as I can, which makes it so disappointing to be fired.


TOPICS: Editorial; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: peterarnett; traitor
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To: ladysusan
I thought that particular turn of phrase was moronic, frankly.

Johnny Cochrane agrees with you. In fact, he is "shocked and outraged" at the overuse of "shock and awe."

41 posted on 03/31/2003 6:10:51 PM PST by Larry Lucido
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To: ladysusan
Peter Arnett's entire career can be summed up as follows: Arnett serves as a tool for America's enemies; Arnett gets in deep trouble as a result; Arnett apologizes; Arnett serves as a tool for America's enemies.
42 posted on 03/31/2003 6:10:53 PM PST by Kenno
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To: Prince Charles
Arnett stories, Reuters bs, Pravda lies should have a special section called Breaking Wind.

Those who love to lose and feel depressed could go the breaking wind section to feel miserable. They can hold hands read Arnett, Reuters bs like the stand down and starving Marines and the Pravda daily and cry, "Quagmire, fragile supply lines, and all is lost!"

The sane ones on Free Republic will avoid that section like a mass of Dog Clinton on the street.
43 posted on 03/31/2003 6:11:37 PM PST by Grampa Dave ("Those who are kind to the cruel end up being cruel to the kind!")
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To: ladysusan
In posting this, you forgot to add the "clueless, whining, *sshole alert." But, you did note that it was Peter Arnett.

Ne-VER-mind.

Congressman Billybob

Latest column, now up on UPI, and FR, "The A-MAA-zing War Wizard"

Latest book(let), "to Restore Trust in America."

44 posted on 03/31/2003 6:11:57 PM PST by Congressman Billybob ("Saddam has left the building. Heck, the building left the building.")
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To: ladysusan
Mirror, Mirror
on the wall
Who's the most loathsome correspondent of all?
45 posted on 03/31/2003 6:12:06 PM PST by mombonn
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To: ladysusan
I came to Baghdad with my crew because the Iraqi side needs to be heard too.

What?

You, the naturalized American citizen who's taken an oath of allegiance, believe your job is to make sure our enemies are "heard"?

What sort of moral inversion does Peter Arnett live in?

Frankly, he looks to me like the calculating egomaniac (e.g. narcissist) who's figured that if he takes the most egregiously unacceptable position, he's bound to get more notoriety and attention for himself.

46 posted on 03/31/2003 6:12:24 PM PST by angkor
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To: ladysusan; All
What a bunch of drivel from a crusty wart of a man. This is what passes for award winning journalism? I'm almost tempted to open up shop myself.
47 posted on 03/31/2003 6:12:37 PM PST by new cruelty
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To: nothingnew
"Didn't take long for the Peter Boyle look-a-like to get back on, huh?"


48 posted on 03/31/2003 6:12:37 PM PST by KS Flyover
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To: Larry Lucido
Ssssssnaaaaaarkkkkkkkkkkk!!!!!
Diet Coke all over the monitor.
49 posted on 03/31/2003 6:12:42 PM PST by ladysusan (color correcting 563 photographs)
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To: ladysusan
THIS WAR IS WORKING VERY WELL, THANK YOU.

Apr 1 2003 By Peter Arnett (Perhaps Peter intended this as a spoof article since he published it on April Fools day.)

I am still in shock and awe at you being fired too. ISN'T IT GREAT. But the US Government did not fire you. It was your news service for 'going iraqi'.

The US Government does not mind CREDIBLE news organizations reporting from Baghdad because it gives them valuable information on how effective their bombing is. No problems there. Your News organization terminated you because you tarnished their credibility with your bogus beliefs. Oh, and reporters are supposed to report the news, not attempt to make it.

Overnight your successful NBC reporting career was turned to ashes because you lost your credibility. END OF STORY.

You claim that the US war timetable has 'fallen by the wayside'. I disagree. It looks like the schedule is very much on target and will soon be moving to a swift completion. Any delays so far have been caused by the failure of diplomacy in Turkey - delaying the arrival of the 4ID - and not due to Iraqi resistance.

Now why you would choose to continue to reinforce your mistake by stating it in the Daily Mirror. Seems stupid to me.

Ah, so now it is a 'right-wing media and politicians' who are to blame and not the government. Hmmm, I think you need to look closer to home. At least you acknowledge that you made a 'misjudgment'.
50 posted on 03/31/2003 6:13:54 PM PST by Pikachu_Dad
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To: ladysusan
His style of writing is sophomoric.
51 posted on 03/31/2003 6:14:21 PM PST by Taffini (I like Tony Soprano even though he is a fat-boy)
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To: ladysusan
Lord, God,

uhhhhh,

his hoof and mouth disease is as bad as ever and now it's coming out his fingers!

Could you really speed up his reaping what he's sown?

He's polluting the media wholesale; the landscape wholesale and the whole global atmosphere wholesale.

Of course . . . a selective lobotomy on his expressive language side might improve things.

but Lord, I don't really care how you do it--just please deal with the guy!

He's a danger to the Republic.

And he's none to kind toward Your Kingdom, either.

In Jesus' Name, Amen.
52 posted on 03/31/2003 6:14:52 PM PST by Quix (QUALITY RESRCH STDY BTWN BK WAR N PEACE VS BIBLE RE BIBLE CODES AT MAR BIBLECODESDIGEST.COM)
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To: Taffini

HOME OF THE FREE: ARNETT JOINS MIRROR (The Ultimate BARF ALERT; Mirror Pukes Up All Credibility)


53 posted on 03/31/2003 6:17:54 PM PST by Timesink (Six hundred and four, Toxteth O'Grady, USA.)
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To: ladysusan
If he would have talked on TV like he wrote this article he would not have been fired. I heard what he said on TV. It was awful. This article is actually kind of thoughtful. But one article here is not going to make up for his terrrible comments on Iraqi TV, because on TV he came across as gleeful at the war going "bad".
54 posted on 03/31/2003 6:18:04 PM PST by BRL
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To: ladysusan
Go to the site and take a look at some of the past Mirror frontpages (you can boil your mouse afterwards). Petah has finally found a home, where he can show his true colors.

RED! ! !


55 posted on 03/31/2003 6:19:16 PM PST by kattracks
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To: kattracks
H&C are going to have a Petah apologist on in the next block. This oughta be good.
56 posted on 03/31/2003 6:20:14 PM PST by ladysusan (color correcting 563 photographs)
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To: kattracks
LOL @ boiling the mouse!
57 posted on 03/31/2003 6:20:49 PM PST by Howlin
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To: Howlin
Someone is ging to have to explain that bit of lore to me.
The mouse thingee.
58 posted on 03/31/2003 6:22:09 PM PST by ladysusan (color correcting 563 photographs)
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To: ladysusan
"The Major with us asked: "How could this happen?" A soldier replied: "Sir, we had to destroy the town to save it."

seems I've heard this 'story' before...
59 posted on 03/31/2003 6:22:16 PM PST by Texas_Jarhead
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To: merrin
"MSNBC is going to have to fire him. He admitted in so many words that his reports are designed to bolster the "antiwar" movement."

"1693 posted on 03/30/2003 5:06 PM CST by merrin"

Yup, looks like you 'nailed' him.

60 posted on 03/31/2003 6:22:27 PM PST by blam
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