Peter Arnett tells his side to British paper

[Scott Greczkowski]

Peter tells his side of things. Says he just wants to tell the truth about the war.

What do you think?

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/allnews/page.cfm?objectid=12795678&method=full&siteid=50143

[Mike123abc]

Well a couple of comments:

1. He would not have gotten in any trouble if he had reported what he said to Iraqi TV. It was the fact that he allowed himself to be used by Iraqi TV. This is aiding and abetting the enemy in a time of war. That tends to be frowned upon even by "left wing" media.

2. He states as fact things he could not know like what is the time table the military had. Unless he was in the Pentagon Joint Chiefs meetings, he was simply stating his own opinion. Now it is possible he fell victim to listening to the optimism that they "would be in Baghdad by the end of the month". Who knows the real war plan may be: rush in, secure the open country to prevent Iraqi troop movement, then bomb them for 30 days to decimate them, then walk into Baghdad. He could also be dead right in his assessment. But, he is not in the position to get on Iraqi TV and make pronouncements either way.

[RichW]

If you watched the interview, you could not help but see the gleeful demeanor of Arnett as he spoke about the failings of the war strategy. perhpas this was simply a technique to "bait" the Iraqis by playing the "good cop", but it certainly didn't play well here at home.

I too have misgivings on how the War is being conducted, but I am not glad that many of my concerns have been correct. My turn comes with the next election. If Bush doesn't dump both Cheney and "Rummie" he will not get my support or vote.

[Neil Derryberry]

You know you are really a liberal when you are too far to the left for CNN...

[RichW]

With all the CNN bashing that goes on in this forum, it is interesting that some of the military men, including the guy who speaks for the Central Command, is praising CNN for both its coverage and commentary on the War.

[Scott Greczkowski]

I have not watched much of CNN's coverage of the war but from what I have seen it was not too bad, I watched fox because of their embedded troops which they seem to have more of then CNN.

I found the few times I was watching CNN they were just breaking news which was reported earlier on by Fox.

[firephoto]

Well I've tried watching MSNBC and all I ever see is 3 or more people debating war issues. When I watch FOX news I either can't take their "twist" to the story, or Oliver North or Jeraldo pops up and they are nothing more than actors.

Some of the best reporting I have seen has come from ABC when they do have some news or special reports. BBC has some good reporting too and some of the European financial news puts a different view on things (entertaining mostly).

Then there's CNN, which I mostly watch because it always has been a news channel and has many reporters that they check in with regularly, video and still footage from many areas of Iraq, at least one general that seems to know what he's talking about, and most of all the news and not a lot of fluff. All of this happens every hour too so whenever I get the chance I can turn the tv on CNN and know I am going to get some current news and not 30 minutes of arguing about Rumsfeld's plans. I'll admit it's not the most "exciting" news channel, but I like things how they are, not spiced up to make them more eye catching or appealing to popular culture.

As far as Peter A. goes, Baghdad isn't such a bad place for him if he wants to be the "true and fair" reporter. :rolleyes:

[lee635]

Well we know that no other reporters will step out-of-line now.... :rolleyes:

[RandyAB]

Personally I am enjoying CNN's news coverage. I still think they do it the best. After the war though I will go back to Fox News Channel. Gotta love Shephard Smith

[Nick]

The back story...

http://cagle.slate.msn.com/news/Arnett-Geraldo/ArnettandGeraldo/1/stayskal.gif

[Richard King]

http://www.drudgereport.com/flash2.htm

Arnett has been signed by the Greek television network NET to broadcast from Iraq. I believe that this network is carried on Dish.