Article

2003-03-31 Fifth Column

Arnett fired by NBC for remarks on Iraqi TV

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Posted by jrosevear 2003-03-31 06:55 am|| || Front Page|| [2 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 Lying about a "failed first plan" is certainly not truth. No such first plan has failed -- on the contrary, the Coalition has achieved objectives that no army ever managed so quickly and with so few casualties. It constitutes treason because he is supporting the enemy as well as encouraging them to keep killing civilians and Coalition soldiers instead of unconditional surrender.

(Note: I will no longer answer trolls and/or jihadi nuts.)

Posted by Kalle (kafir forever) 3/31/2003 7:56:24 AM|| [radio.weblogs.com/0103811/categories/currentevents/] 3/31/2003 7:56:24 AM|| Front Page Top

#2 Apparently he appeared on The Today Show to deliver his apology. Still trying to confirm his firing.

Posted by jrosevear 2003-03-31 07:04:09|| 2003-03-31 07:04:09|| Front Page Top

#3 He has committed treason. He'd better stay out of the US, if he wants to remain alive.

Posted by Kalle (kafir forever) 2003-03-31 07:13:35|| [radio.weblogs.com/0103811/categories/currentevents/] 2003-03-31 07:13:35|| Front Page Top

#4 Telling the truth is called treason now?

Posted by Murat 2003-03-31 07:16:43|| 2003-03-31 07:16:43|| Front Page Top

#5 It's official - he's fired:

http://www.msnbc.com/news/893115.asp?0cv=CB10

Posted by jrosevear 2003-03-31 07:22:01|| 2003-03-31 07:22:01|| Front Page Top

#6 Murat, his remarks weren't anything like "truth" and you know it. Further, his remarks may end up getting a lot of civilians killed -- if he has undermined the Iraqi peoples' confidence that the coalition will see this through to completion, he will have had the effect of putting off the inevitable capitulation and thus prolonged the war. It's not necessarily treason, but it is hard to see how this is a good thing.

Posted by jrosevear 2003-03-31 07:25:53|| 2003-03-31 07:25:53|| Front Page Top

#7 Lying about a "failed first plan" is certainly not truth. No such first plan has failed -- on the contrary, the Coalition has achieved objectives that no army ever managed so quickly and with so few casualties. It constitutes treason because he is supporting the enemy as well as encouraging them to keep killing civilians and Coalition soldiers instead of unconditional surrender.

(Note: I will no longer answer trolls and/or jihadi nuts.)

Posted by Kalle (kafir forever) 2003-03-31 07:56:24|| [radio.weblogs.com/0103811/categories/currentevents/] 2003-03-31 07:56:24|| Front Page Top

#8 I heard the comments and wasn't surprised given his history. He made a comment about people in the U.S. losing support for the war - how could he know, being in Baghdad? Basically, he was doing to Sammy what Monica did to Bill.

Posted by Spot 2003-03-31 07:56:51|| 2003-03-31 07:56:51|| Front Page Top

#9 He's gone from NBC:

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=514&e=5&cid=514&u=/ap/20030331/ap_on_en_tv/war_arnett

He's also over there for National Geographic. Don't know the staus on that.

Posted by tu3031 2003-03-31 08:03:18|| 2003-03-31 08:03:18|| Front Page Top

#10 http://simmins.org/LinkedImages/arnett.jpeg

Posted by Chuck 2003-03-31 08:11:41|| [blog.simmins.org] 2003-03-31 08:11:41|| Front Page Top

#11 I'm so damn sick of all this blather about the "plan". Everybody knows that no plan in war remains fixed and static, because nobody knows exactly what the enemy is going to do. It's not a "plan", per se, but a guideline or an outlook, and it will be changed and updated as circumstances dictate.

Arnett is a weasel, and his big "scoop" on the use of nerve gas in Laos by the Americans during the Vietname War was just one indication of how low he'll stoop in his pursuit of self-glorification.

Posted by Dar Steckelberg 2003-03-31 08:23:33|| 2003-03-31 08:23:33|| Front Page Top

#12 In Arnett's phony "apology", his comment about "professional courtesy" has been getting the short shrift as far as I'm concerned. Does Petah Arnett consider the Iraqi Ministry of Information a legitimate journalistic operation? Obviously yes! Arnett considers what he does to be the equivalent to what Saddam's propagandists do. From his comments, that is also true. He's following the line set down by the Baathists. Arnett also claims that his reports were propaganda designed to help the 'antiwar' forces in the States and to increase the opposition to President Bush. Arnett is delusional that opposition is increasing in the States or Great Britain or Australia or even in Canada or France.

Posted by Jabba the Tutt 2003-03-31 09:03:35|| 2003-03-31 09:03:35|| Front Page Top

#13 "Baby Milk" Arnett sez on Iraqi TV: "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."
Message: Show more dead civilians and the Americans lose. Of course if you don't have enough dead civilians to show you better produce some more. Do the math...
That's not just treason that's incitement to kill innocent people.
Maybe the RG can use him as a civilian human shield. If the word "human" still applies...

Posted by True German Ally 2003-03-31 09:53:18|| 2003-03-31 09:53:18|| Front Page Top

#14 Did Arnett let his NBC bosses know he was going to be interviewed by Iraqi TV? If not, then this alone is enough to get him fired. Giving a heads-up to the one above you is SOP in any organization that is in the public eye (or for that matter, not in the public eye) I guess Petah didn't take MGT 101 in his younger days. But at the same time, he probably felt quite insulated from a sacking given that he is Peter Arnett, and has pretty much had his way with his previous bosses.

As to what he said, it's not that terribly different from what has been on the Big Boy networks. Just understand, dummy, don't be a stool for Iraqi TV, whose satellite TV service was on this morning around 6:30 AM, Chicago time.

BTW, Michael Moore's Oscar speech is being played these days on the Syrian satellite channel with martial music in the background and all. All presented to show us as engaging in an Unjust War. After all, if M.M., an American renowned movie maker, says it's wrong, well, it must be wrong!!!

Posted by Michael 2003-03-31 10:04:30|| 2003-03-31 10:04:30|| Front Page Top

#15 Rumors are that even the newly-persuaded far-left National Geographic has fired him. Also, Geraldo has been booted for "gross indiscretion" about future operations of the unit he was embedded with. Looks like there may be a number of job openings in the broadcast industry.

Posted by Old Patriot 2003-03-31 10:23:52|| 2003-03-31 10:23:52|| Front Page Top

#16 Not true about Geraldo. I saw him at 11:40 AM EST, a group of 101st "Screaming Eagles" around him. At the end of his broadcast, he explicitly addressed the rumor of his booting, and all the soldiers laughed or grinned, obviously in great spirits. The commentator in the States said, "There you have it. Geraldo's still in Iraq."

It's probably someone feeding a line to Druge, in a desperate stab at moral equivalence: Geraldo said "This unit's going to Baghdad." Nothing more specific....

Posted by Ptah 2003-03-31 11:06:52|| [www.crusaderwarcollege.org] 2003-03-31 11:06:52|| Front Page Top

#17 Murat, we're 50 miles from Baghdad. Are we just going to stop? Have you been paying attention to Umm Qasr?

Posted by Anonymous 2003-03-31 12:11:36|| 2003-03-31 12:11:36|| Front Page Top

#18 Yes, let us return to those wonderful days of radio with William "Lord Haw Haw" Joyce and Ikuko "Tokyo Rose a.k.a Orphan Ann" Toguri. The former swung at the end of an English rope. The latter just did time.

http://www.fbi.gov/libref/historic/famcases/rose/rose.htm

Maybe in thirty years Arnet can ask for a pardon as well.

Posted by Don 2003-03-31 12:37:09|| 2003-03-31 12:37:09|| Front Page Top

#19 Y'know, the embarrassing thing about that last comment by Don is that "Lord Haw-Haw" was, sadly,
American by birth. Born in the US, raised in Ireland and England, he turned on us all like a rabid dog. Why is it that those who hate the Anglosphere the most tend to be from it?

Ed

Posted by Ed Becerra 2003-03-31 16:57:40|| 2003-03-31 16:57:40|| Front Page Top

#20 Hey dont worry about Peter Arnett.Rumor has it Al-Jezeera TV is considering hiring him.Rumor also has it, he will fit in there, very well.Unfortunately part of their contract states that after the War is over, they will have to kill him just for being a westerner "infidel"
.........He's Thinking about it.......

Posted by True American 2003-03-31 17:11:59|| 2003-03-31 17:11:59|| Front Page Top

#21 Maybe he will be available for that al-Jazeera gig. He just got fired by National Geographic, too....

Posted by Former Russian Major 2003-03-31 17:41:09|| 2003-03-31 17:41:09|| Front Page Top

#22 PMSNBC still hasn't let the Geraldo thing go. They had a "What's worse?" tidbit comparing Geraldo and Bin-Arnett at about 8:20pm EST. At least they fuzzed out Geraldo's map. Appearently his sand cartography is so good that it can still give away positions after everybody is gone. I'm looking forward to seeing them make a hard turn in the near future, I just haven't figured out which way it's going to be yet.

Posted by Mike N 2003-03-31 19:44:51|| 2003-03-31 19:44:51|| Front Page Top

08:32 raptor
08:19 raptor
08:03 Ptah
07:22 Ptah
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06:50 Ptah
06:13 George
05:57 Former Russian Major
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00:00 Tom Schaller
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