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

[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/03/31/sprj.irq.arnett/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.