(2003-03-31) — Iraq’s vice president, Taha Yassin Ramadan, said ’suicide broadcasters’ Peter Arnett and Geraldo Rivera are part of a “coordinated effort to thwart invaders who can’t be defeated by conventional warfare.” He also raised the specter of more suicide broadcasters on U.S. or British soil.
Meanwhile, Saddam Hussein’s regime presented Mr. Arnett and Mr. Rivera ‘postfamous’ medals and large financial contributions.
Calling the tactic a “routine military policy,” Mr. Ramadan threatened more such attacks on Americans and Britons — even on their own soil.
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer dismissed the Iraqi threats saying that American news networks “have been slowly self-destructing for years. It will not distract us from our mission in Iraq.”