NBC announced Monday that it had severed its relationship with
veteran war correspondent Peter Arnett after Arnett had granted an
interview with Iraqi TV. Arnett had said in the interview that the
U.S. “war plan has failed because of Iraqi resistance. Now they are
trying to write another war plan.” Arnett, who insists that he said
was “what we all know about the war,” has apologized for having
“created a firestorm of protest.”
Such a narrow apology underscores the fact that Arnett is
unrepentant regarding the soundness of his journalistic judgment.
“It was entirely appropriate to grant an interview to state-run
Iraqi television which is a rock-solid news-gathering
organization,” he insists. “They’ve done some hard-hitting exposes
over the years. Just last spring, their series that explained how
President Saddam Hussein is the milk of human kindness personified
must have ruffled quite a few feathers in Baghdad. Talk about
speaking truth to power!”
Arnett rejects the suggestion that any decent journalist would
find Iraqi TV, which functions essentially as a loudspeaker for a
mass-murderer, to be offensive by its very nature and an insult to
his profession. “When you’re a keen-eyed, skeptical journalist like
me who’s not afraid to ask the tough questions,” Arnett says, “you
learn to accept a lot of things at face value. My producer spends
most of his day thinking about how to get the next story; his
counterpart at Iraqi TV spends his day immersing insubordinate
underlings in nitric acid. What matters in the end is getting the
story and getting it right. And if you mention the ‘Tailwind’
fiasco from my CNN days, this interview is over.”
As to the validity of his interview comments, Arnett refuses to
budge. “Of course, the American war plan has failed. The original
plan consisted of quick strikes on the Iraqi leadership and the
Republican Guard and attacks from the air followed by a ground
assault. In reality, the Americans were forced to launch quick
strikes on the Iraqi leadership and Republican Guard, attacks from
the air and a ground assault but while having to strengthen the
security of supply lines. Talk about a complete reversal of
strategy! Of course, only a perceptive journalistic observer such
as myself has the ability to cut through the clutter and see what’s
really going on. In a way, it’s a curse to be able to see the
things that others don’t. The ancients referred to it as ‘second
sight.’”
After a brief pause to smooth the wrinkles out of his safari
jacket, Arnett observes, “The Iraqi government probably can’t
believe how well things are going. They’ve lasted almost two weeks
and have only lost control of a major portion of the country as
well as their airspace, allied forces are massing outside Baghdad
and even the Iraqi ambassador to the U.N. says he doesn’t know for
sure if Saddam Hussein is still alive. This seasoned media veteran
would so far call the contest a draw.”
In what should be no surprise, Arnett has landed on his feet
with a new gig reporting on the war for Britain’s Daily
Mirror. And after the end of hostilities, Arnett is already
training his sharply-honed critical faculties on another potential
blockbuster story. “Ironically, the idea came from my old bosses at
NBC, believe it or not,” he laughs. “The other night they broadcast
a fascinating news documentary called ‘The West Wing.’ It seemed to
indicate that the United States is actually being run by a
president named Bartlett and a group of attractive but glib
assistants, probably as a part of the so-called shadow government.
It’s a woefully underreported story but, as luck would have it, I’m
just the man to shine the harsh light of reason on it.”
