THIS WAR IS NOT WORKING (Arnett Already Writing in The Mirror!!!!)

The.mirror.co.ok ^ | 4/1/03 | Peter Arnett

[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.

[Eaker]

I think Peter should read up on Proposition 308.

Stay safe; stay armed,

[DCBar]

Like the thief who says he is sorry, Axis Arnett really is only sorry that he got caught and something bad happened to him. It is all about him, of course.

[Ruth A.]

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!

How many journalists really believe that professional courtesy requires them to give comments? Hubris supreme.

Again the media lets comments slip by. No one said that internal rebellion would be easy, hence the extend dropping of instructions. I, who am no where near the shoelace of a famous , experienced reporter, was afraid that these people would not vote with their feet. They have been in subjugation so long that the idea of liberty is foreign to them. Until we had the reports of the wrath of Saddam from the first Gulf War, I had no idea of the bravery required of the Iraqi people to welcome the troops.

Did the military really ever give out a timetable for the war? That seems unimaginable. Who would even talk of the best case scenario--except the press. There is not Plan A and Plan B, but instead different stages of the war.

Peter Arnett should stay in Baghdad or go to France.

[1 spark]

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.

Adding to the slip, the renowned journalist misspelled "their".

[Diogenesis]

Arnett's trustworthiness:

---

[Finny]

"Bald Matt" Lauer -- my husband calls him "Possum Head." He does bear a striking resemblance to a possum, doesn't he??

[VeniVidiVici]

Peter's found a home. His style of writing is not left-wing enough for the Mirror so far. Wonder if they'll sack 'em :-)

[dawn53]

The US and British want to come here, take over the city, upturn the government and take us through to a new era

Exactly who is Arnett referring to with the word "us"?

[swheats]

Thanks for the link. He needs to be gagged and returned to America and made to view the war on FOX instead of writing about it. That's just for starters.

[Eaker]

He's Baaaaaaaaaack................

Stay safe; stay armed.

[Delta 21]

So true.

I bet a lot of other reporters wish they were privy to the Coalition war plans so they could report to the world when we are falling behind.

This is what happens when the reporter takes what he says too seriously.

90% of all the war coverage out there is all the other reporters reporting on what another reporter has reported that he heard some one else say. Pure speculation of unsubstantiated rumors made up by people who only speek on condition of annonimity.

[JoeSixPack1]

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

There is no Iraqi side Pete, you moron. It's a dictatorship. The Iraqi side is whatever Saddam INsane sez it is.

[ladysusan]

Neither did the editor catch it. He (and they) are pretty shook up - that's how I would read the slip and spelling error.

[Blue Screen of Death]

I wonder if Peter Arnett and Robert Fisk will be sharing a room in Baghdad? They would make a lovely couple. Bottoms up, old chap and all that.

[Fzob]

I doubt it. But it seems these totalitarian dictator types tend to believe half of the nonsense they spout.

[Brian Allen]

<< ..... I don't believe he is deliberately lying. He is simply delisional, a victim of his own Fantasy Ideology ..... >>

I'm with you. Arnett is pathologically delusional.

Terminally psychotic.

AND [No less efficatiously for all of the above!] a bloody traitor!

He'll be among friends at Maxwell's Mirror.

[surrey]

This cretin took an oath to become a naturalized citizen. He hasn't abided by that oath....yank his citizenship and deny him re-entry to the USA! I hear he lives in cushy McLean, VA. Send him back to sheep country

[ladysusan]

Is that the way it is? ;-D

[mountaineer]

My gosh, what a truly awful writer he is!

[Howlin]

90% of all the war coverage out there is all the other reporters reporting on what another reporter has reported that he heard some one else say. Pure speculation of unsubstantiated rumors made up by people who only speek on condition of annonimity.

As far as I can tell, we here on FR have a better batting average than most of them do; and when we all give an opinion that's wrong, somebody comes along to correct us.