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| Britain |
| HOME OF THE FREE: ARNETT JOINS MIRROR |
| 2003-04-01 |
| THE reporter sacked by American TV for telling the truth about the war is joining the Daily Mirror. Truth hurts Veteran newsman Peter Arnett was axed by NBC yesterday accused of being a Saddam stooge. He told state-run Iraqi TV the conflict was not going to plan because of fierce resistance and said his Baghdad reports âhelp those who oppose warâ. He joins the Mirror on the day it was revealed that 8,700 bombs have rained down on Iraq in 12 days, including 3,000 missiles over the weekend. After his sacking, Pulitzer Prize winner Arnett said: âI report the truth of what is happening here in Baghdad and will not apologise for it. I have always admired your newspaper and am proud to be working for it.â Well done buddy, no more CNN / NBC censorship of Bush communism The New Zealand-born journalist was vilified across the US for an interview in which he said: âThe first war plan has failed because of Iraqi resistance. Now they are trying to write another war plan. Clearly, the war planners misjudged the determination of the Iraqi forces. In my TV commentaries Iâd tell the Americans about the Iraqi forces and their willingness to fight. 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.â Who cares, where is the oil Arnett, 68, added that there was growing opposition about the conduct of the war. He said: âOur reports about civilian casualties here, about the resistance of the Iraqi forces, are going back to the US. It helps those who oppose the war when you challenge the policy.â On Sunday, NBC praised the reporter for risking his life to deliver news from Baghdad. Gratitudes don't last long The station said of the Iraqi TV interview: âHe answered their questions out of professional courtesy. He saw it as purely analysis.â But the furious White House said Arnett spoke from âa point of complete ignoranceâ. They day after backing him, NBC cut him loose. Yesterday Arnett said on NBC: âI want to apologise to the American people. It was clearly a misjudgment talking to Iraqi TV. Iâm not anti-war. I said what we all know about this war. But Iâve created a firestorm and for that Iâm sorry.â Asked about his future, he joked: âThereâs a small island in the South Pacific Iâll try to swim to. Iâll leave.â Arnett was one of the few TV journalists in Baghdad. He said: âThe Iraqis let me stay because they see me as a fellow warrior. They know I might not agree with them. But Iâve got their respect.â The reporter, the first Western journalist to interview Osama bin Laden and the last to interview Saddam Hussein, was accused of peddling pro-Iraqi propaganda while covering the 1991 Gulf War. But he gained much of his prominence for reporting the last conflict with Iraq for CNN. His Pulitzer Prize came for reporting in Vietnam in 1966 for the Associated Press. |
| Posted by:Murat |
| #22 Fred, Fair enough - thanks for the response. And a couple of his posts are fairly informative, when he doesnt go off the rails editorially & inflammatorially, especially to demonstrate what distortions the "other side" accept as "truth". As for the bludgeon... (in my best imitation Saddam voice) No, thats not me, nevermind the bloodied (verbal) baseball bat I'm holding behind my back. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2003-04-01 17:14:39 |
| #21 I've been leaving Murat's posts in because they've been tied to news items. It's good for us to get regular doses of news from the other side - though I agree he's crossing the line lately. News from the other side, yes; picking fights, no - though some commenters seem willing and able to wade in with bare knuckles and the occasional bludgeon. I try to build a daily summary of the war on terror. I'm going to start deleting or modifying articles that are posted to pick fights. Most of us don't have the time to waste on that nonsense. Murat, please observe basic courtesy toward other readers and posters. And the link goes in the bottom box on the GuestPoster screen. |
| Posted by: Fred 2003-04-01 14:02:58 |
| #20 OldSpook. It's like TV. You don't like what's on, you turn the channel. In my humble opinion, Murat's an idiot. An amateur idiot. But let him post his crap, either ignore it or comment on it, and move along to the next post. Don't let him get to you. I know that's hard sometime. Believe me, I know. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2003-04-01 13:29:58 |
| #19 Hey Murat, Have you stopped backshooting Armenians yet? |
| Posted by: Hodadenon 2003-04-01 13:29:05 |
| #18 Fred, eniough is enough. Murat is a troll or a propagandist. "Bush Communism"? Give me a break. Fred its time to send Murat off to make his own weblog if he wants to do pure propaganda. And Murat, you racist ignorant Turk, what say you about your Racist Genocidal Kemalist government and how it had attempted to "ethnically cleanse" the Kurds and Armenians, hmm? Still no answers to the charges history, recent and ancient, brings against your pathetically backward country? Typical - you are all bluster and no guts. Typical Turkish Coward. Go grow a mustache to make up for the internal mahood you lack. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2003-04-01 12:57:01 |
| #17 That WAS good. Not as good as the earlier mentioned "Operation Zionist Infidel Crusader", but good enough to earn my vote as funniest blog Troll. |
| Posted by: Mike N. 2003-04-01 10:01:36 |
| #16 HAHAHAHAHAHAHA... Oh, Murat, you witty bastard... |
| Posted by: tu3031 2003-04-01 09:13:51 |
| #15 well, I'll be...Murat! That's funny. Finally you had a post worth reading. |
| Posted by: a non 2003-04-01 09:10:43 |
| #14 RW, They're calling it Operation Iraqi Freedom. They were going to call it Operation Iraqi Liberation until they realized that spells 'OIL.' |
| Posted by: Murat 2003-04-01 08:55:52 |
| #13 Yawn...Arnett?? Who's he?? Didn't he used to be a journalist? |
| Posted by: becky 2003-04-01 08:34:11 |
| #12 Hey Murat, when the war's over and the real truth about what happened comes out, are you going to own up to your nonsense? Or will you be too busy trying to emigrate to the newly democratic Republic of Iraq? |
| Posted by: jrosevear 2003-04-01 08:18:45 |
| #11 Murat, he's all yours. Maybe you can start his fan club? |
| Posted by: tu3031 2003-04-01 07:56:48 |
| #10 Murat: dead Iraqi civilians? That's what happens when Saddam uses human shields and suicide bombers, and hides his troops among civilians. Cause - effect They did not start off like this. If the troops think it is kill or be killed, they will kill and rightly so. That van was given warning shots, it refused to stop. For all they knew it could've had a bomb-bunny in it |
| Posted by: anon1 2003-04-01 06:28:12 |
| #9 This is supposedly Arnett's first article for the Mirror. Do not read it immediately after eating. Do not be surprised if it is difficult to pull up either (I had to keep trying over 15 minutes to get it to work......don't these lefties have decent servers???) http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/allnews/page.cfm?objectid=12795678&method=full&siteid=50143 Ok, Murat, I'm confused.....Bush is a commie? I thought you guys thought he was a nazi. Next you'll be saying he voted for Nader...... |
| Posted by: Former Russian Major 2003-04-01 06:04:57 |
| #8 What I don't think you realize is, the definition of what makes a nation, organization, etc. great, does NOT have to hinge upon a single incident (or two). It is more about how great its average performance is in comparison to others. The AVERAGE performance of the US in ALL areas (including: human rights, humanitarian effort, foreign policy, etc, etc, etc)is a cut above the performance in these areas by just about any other nation throughout thier long histories. How else does a country become the cultural, scientific, human rights, political, economic, etc etc (ad nauseum) hub of the entire world??? Many people may not respect some act or acts committed by the US, but NONE who know the truth can fail to acknowledge the fact that when anyone has a problem -- the US is always looked to for a solution!!! Quite frankly, I'm tired of the whole affair - I'd rather quit the war in Iraq - bring our troops home, and let all of the morons out there wipe each other out -- we can take care of OURSELVES without YOUR help... Lets see how all of these other nations do when we compete with them on an even economic footing, not using trade resitrictions that actually favor foreign companies..... |
| Posted by: steve 2003-04-01 05:53:24 |
| #7 "HOME OF THE FREE: ARNETT JOINS MIRROR" From reporting for the biggest,most preistigis news orginazations,to working for a gossip-printing,tabloid rag. How does that bullet wound in your foot feel? Hey Mu-rat,looks like you are going to have company being irrelavant and ignored. |
| Posted by: raptor 2003-04-01 05:29:48 |
| #6 That's operation Iraqi Freedom you twit. |
| Posted by: RW 2003-04-01 03:53:36 |
| #5 One of the long term benefits of this war has been to force the authoritarian fascist left to show its true colors. Our friend Murat, for example, clearly defines freedom and truth in terms of support for the ravings of the Saddamite propaganda ministry, this being practically all we heard from the Stalinist liar Arnett while he was in Baghdad. Nobody blocked NBC's door to force them to fire Tailwind Pete, but Murat's totalitarian colleagues and fellow fifth-columnists have, in fact, tried that with the "corporate media" including CNN. This is nothing but a rationale for censorship. The real farce, Mu-rat, is you and the rest of the pacifascist mass-murder and suicide bomb apologists pretending to give a rat's ass about the lives of Iraqis. |
| Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy 2003-04-01 03:36:52 |
| #4 Just keep your eyes closed for realities, like the 7 women and children killed at a checkpoint in the operation "liberation - free Iraq". For as long the ostrich politics works, see no evil, hear no evil. "Whatch CNN be the first to know", bwah what a farce. |
| Posted by: Murat 2003-04-01 03:04:17 |
| #3 Yesterday this was funny, now I just feel sorry for the guy. How pained must he be by the prospects for his own country (now that we're going to let their economy mostly tank) and its shameful role in this matter to lash out like this on a foreign blog? |
| Posted by: someone 2003-04-01 02:38:33 |
| #2 GAZE |
| Posted by: Kalle (kafir forever) 2003-04-01 01:49:55 |
| #1 "Well done buddy, no more CNN / NBC censorship of Bush communism " The troll murat has completely lost it. |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2003-04-01 01:49:16 |