Peter Arnett vertelt geen leugens in een interview met de televisie in Irak:

“The first war plan has failed because of Iraqi resistance. Now they are trying to write another war plan,” Arnett said. “Clearly, the American war planners misjudged the determination of the Iraqi forces.”

“I’d like to say from the beginning that the 12 years I’ve been coming here,” Arnett said, “I’ve met unfailing courtesy and cooperation, courtesy from your people and cooperation from the Ministry of Information.”

Arnett told the Iraqi TV interviewer, who was dressed in an Iraqi Army uniform, that President Bush is facing a “growing challenge” about the “conduct of the war” within the United States. [CNN]

NBC, de werkgever van Peter Arnett, zegt dat hij niets verkeerd gedaan heeft:

NBC News issued a statement supporting Arnett, saying that Arnett gave the interview to Iraqi TV as a “professional courtesy” and that his remarks “were analytical in nature and were not intended to be anything more.” [CNN]

Of wacht, neen, hij had toch geen gelijk, we gaan hem ontslaan:

“Peter Arnett will no longer be reporting for NBC News and MSNBC,” NBC said in a joint statement with National Geographic, for whom the Pulitzer prize-winning reporter was also working.

“It was wrong for Mr. Arnett to grant an interview with state-controlled Iraqi TV, especially at a time of war and it was wrong for him to discuss his personal observations and opinions,” NBC said in a statement. [Washington Post]

Prachtig. Arnett was al bij CNN onslagen omdat het Pentagon niet content was over een reportage van hem, en nu opnieuw, bij NBC/National Geographic.

Allemaal samen: in the làààààànd of the freeeeee… and the hoooooome of the braaaaave!

Update [via Secular Blasphemy]:

A Republican congresswoman, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, told Fox News Channel on Sunday that Arnett’s remarks were “Kafkaesque” and “just crazy.”
“Let’s hope that he’s being coerced,” Ros-Lehtinen said. [Fox News]

You may well ask “Who is Ileana Ros-Lehtinen?“–Ileana Ros-Lehtinen has represented Florida’s 18th Congressional District since 1989. You can read her fascinating story as the first Hispanic woman elected to Congress by clicking here.

Allemaal goed en wel, maar de opmerkingen van Arnett: kafkaesk? “marked by surreal distortion and often a sense of impending danger”? Tssss.