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Fog of War

Mike Alissi | 3.31.2003 2:18 AM

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What's the truth about Geraldo getting booted from Iraq? DoD says he "compromised operational security."

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Mike Alissi is vice president for operations at Reason Foundation and publisher of Reason magazine.

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  1. tim   22 years ago

    The real question is why Geraldo allowed himself to be escorted back to Kuwait. I'd think he would have jumped at the chance to go unilateral and head due north to take on Saddam mano-a-mano.

  2. Lefty   22 years ago

    I heard that while he was on camera he drew some lines in the sand showing his position and where they were headed. I think I saw it on ABC or CNN but I'm not sure.

  3. Ken   22 years ago

    I saw him on FNC last night. He was drawing a crude map in the sand showing the supply chain from Kuwait to the front lines. He also showed their alternate route which had been setup to the west. In this he also named the units at each of the cities along the supply route (showing these cities on his crude map.) I'm all for free press, but sheesh, Geraldo is a veteran enough of a reporter to know about operational security.

  4. Lefty   22 years ago

    I'm sitting here looking at the Pioneer Press that has a great, big map of Iraq with positions of all the troops on both sides with little icons showing positions of everybody's armor and where the bombing is.

    Geraldo's just a jerk that they had to get out of there or the troops were gonna frag him. It was for his own good...Probably.

  5. Warren   22 years ago

    "Fog of War" too true. I don't know what to make of this. Wouldn't surprise me any if the military put him up to it in the first place.

  6. dude   22 years ago

    He was probably bugging the hell out of everyone and this map bit is an excuse to get rid of him.

  7. Gary Gunnels   22 years ago

    Maybe he was having a hard time keeping the sand out of his moustache?

  8. Commie   22 years ago

    Every right-winger is using this to further their vile agendas. Look at these wingnuts who are trying to silence Micheal Moore:

    "Goddamn you, Moore, stay the fuck out of 9/11. No one needs your brutally irresponsible "documentary" skills ruining the last film record we have of 9/11, which was two FRENCH filmmakers who were actually SHOOTING A GOD-DAMNED DOCUMENTARY that day."

    http://www.moorewatch.com/

    See how the Right-Wing trys to HIDE THE TRUTH. They are trying to CENSOR Moore! They must be stopped!

  9. Gary Gunnels   22 years ago

    How is a documentary "irresponsible?" What should it be responsible too?

  10. Brian   22 years ago

    Right, cuz Micheal Moore is nothing if not a vanguard of "truth"...

    I'm always amused at how dissent/criticism/ridicule of left-wingers is frequently interpreted as "censorship".

    Moore is free to make whatever films he wants. And I'm free to call him an idiot.

    Rivera, on the other hand, pissed off the military in a war zone. Maybe he violated the rules, or maybe he just stepped on the wrong toes and this was just an excuse. Doesn't matter...if you want to ride with the Big Boys with Guns, you'd better be ready to play by their rules. The last thing I want our soldiers to be concerned with is an obnoxious reporter getting in the way.

    I will miss hearing about the "dasterdly" tactics of the Iraqis, though...

  11. Gary Gunnels   22 years ago

    Brian,

    Well, Geraldo could just start doing his work indepdently. I've noticed that there are several jounralists in the war zone who aren't "embedded," one from the LA Times in particular.

  12. geophile   22 years ago

    Gary, Geraldo was never embedded. Until a couple of days ago, he was covering Afghanistan, before that, Turkey.

  13. Gary Gunnels   22 years ago

    geophile,

    Then what is he? The Fox Spews roving reporting?

  14. Not-a-Moore-fan   22 years ago

    Gary Gunnels: "What should [a documentary] be responsible [to]?"

    To its audience.

    A documentary is a report -- a story, told by someone to someone else (you.) And one should hope that whomever tells a story should tell THE TRUTH. Telling the truth is responsible behavior.

  15. geophile   22 years ago

    I have no idea what he is, aside from schlocky fraud. I'd love to see him fragged from his post, wherever he may be.

  16. Greg Fagan   22 years ago

    Hey -- how about cutting Geraldo a little bit of slack here. Mapping's not really his forte, anyway. I mean, in last season's war, he reported "from the scene" of a friendly fire incident, only to take flack when it was suggested that it went down nowhere near the spot from which he was broadcasting. So now his sand drawings are hipping the enemy to his adopted unit's attack plan. Yeah, right. And the patterns my pre-teen nieces and nephews run in backyard football games are *identical* to outlines I draw in my palm.

  17. gzt   22 years ago

    Gary, Geraldo was never embedded.

    He was freelancing around Iraq, used his celebrity to talk his way into joining the 101st... then betrayed their trust.

    At least Arnett apologized... but Geraldo
    blamed his "enemies" at NBC/CNBC/MSNBC for
    spreading "lies".

    Betraying trust is a lifestyle for Geraldo...
    just ask his ex-wives.

  18. ????? ??????   13 years ago

    Thanks

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