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Arnett fired for pro-Iraq propaganda statement. (Insider Report).


Peter Arnett was known as "Hanoi Pete" for his biased war reporting from Vietnam for the Associated Press. Later, he was known as "Baghdad Pete" for his pro-Saddam propaganda for CNN CNN
 or Cable News Network

Subsidiary company of Turner Broadcasting Systems. It was created by Ted Turner in 1980 to present 24-hour live news broadcasts, using satellites to transmit reports from news bureaus around the world.
 during the 1991 Desert Storm war. At the beginning of the current Gulf conflict, he was reporting for NBC NBC
 in full National Broadcasting Co.

Major U.S. commercial broadcasting company. It was formed in 1926 by RCA Corp., General Electric Co. (GE), and Westinghouse and was the first U.S. company to operate a broadcast network.
 and National Geographic--until he was fired on March 30th for providing propaganda statements for Iraq's state-run television.

Arnett told his interviewer, attired in an Iraqi Army uniform, 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." Arnett also thanked Iraq for giving him and other reporters a "degree of freedom which we appreciate." By that time Iraq had already expelled many journalists, and apparently imprisoned im·pris·on  
tr.v. im·pris·oned, im·pris·on·ing, im·pris·ons
To put in or as if in prison; confine.



[Middle English emprisonen, from Old French emprisoner : en-
 two journalists from the New York New York, state, United States
New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of
 newspaper Newsday.

During the Iraqi TV interview, Arnett said, "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."

NBC and National Geographic severed relations with Arnett on March 30th. The Daily Mirror, a British tabloid newspaper, hired Arnett within 24 hours. Piers Morgan, an editor for the Mirror, told CNN, "Peter is one of the most respected journalists in the world, and we are delighted he is joining us to expose the truth about a war increasingly dominated by propaganda."

Propaganda, not journalism, is Arnett's strength. Not content with the anti-American propaganda he had disgorged during the Vietnam War Vietnam War, conflict in Southeast Asia, primarily fought in South Vietnam between government forces aided by the United States and guerrilla forces aided by North Vietnam. , Arnett narrated a 1998 CNN "investigation," entitled "The Valley of Death," that claimed U.S. forces had used the deadly nerve gas nerve gas, any of several poison gases intended for military use, e.g., tabun, sarin, soman, and VX. Nerve gases were first developed by Germany during World War II but were not used at that time.  sarin sarin (zärēn`), volatile liquid used as a nerve gas. It boils at 147°C; but evaporates quickly at room temperature; its vapor is colorless and odorless.  in 1970 in Laos against U.S. defectors. The charges proved completely false, and CNN fired Arnett over the affair.

A few days before NBC fired him for his latest Iraq caper, Arnett had said in a Reuters interview that he had returned to Baghdad seeking "professional redemption" from the disgrace of the "Valley of Death" piece.

Sorry, Pete. Instead of redemption, you just added more evidence for conviction.
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Publication:The New American
Article Type:Brief Article
Geographic Code:7IRAQ
Date:Apr 21, 2003
Words:359
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