Ted Turner has enterred the Tailwind fray in a desperate and pathetic attempt to salvage his company's waning credibilty. He hit the wireservices Saturday July 11, with a flippant and limp-wristed 'apology' for his Tailwind - Valley Of Death Story.
1. Mr.Turner knew full-well that the story was patently fabricated from the start.
Petaaaahhh, please don't tell us you don't know nothing about the story? HA !!! Col. Bishop told you in no unequivocal terms that it was CS not Serin that he delivered. This interview was done in Art's home in April of this year. Three months before the story airred.
Ted, Peter and April knew full-well from this moment forward that nerve gas was not used on Operation Tailwind.
Ted knows full-well that Peter Arnett did more than just 'read the script' on this story, too. Now you know it, too.
Mr. Turner had the chance to set the record straight once and
for all and totally muffed it. Big time.
Saturday
July 11 4:48 AM EDT
Turner Apologizes for Flawed Report
LYNN ELBER AP Television Writer
PASADENA, Calif. (AP) - CNN founder Ted Turner issued a fervent apology to U.S. veterans for the cable news channel's retracted report about U.S. troops using deadly nerve gas in a 1970 Vietnam raid.
``If committing mass suicide would help, I've even given that some consideration. Nothing has upset me more probably in my whole life,'' Turner told a Television Critics Association news conference Friday.
``I'll take my shirt off and beat myself bloody on the back'' with a whip if it would do any good, he said, adding: ``I couldn't hurt any more if I was bleeding.''
Everything up to here is nothing but fluff... The serious question to all of the above is "But, Mr. Turner, would you put on your country's uniform and risk your sorry butt to go fight in some foreign jungle like the courageous men of Operation Tailwind did?" Men whom you've seen fit to smear and distort on your airwaves, but not fitting or deserving of a decent apology.
He offered his personal apology to veterans and anyone who was hurt or offended by the ``NewsStand: CNN & Time'' story aired June 7 that claimed U.S. troops used nerve gas against Vietnam War deserters in Laos.
Per CNN's usual & customary style, they always 'offer' an apology, but never get around to making one. Mr. Turner, for your information, an apology always starts with "I'm sorry..." Two words that have yet to be from you today.
For example, "I'm sorry for all the disinformation, lies and deception which I allowed to be spread about the brave and heroic American fighting men of Operation Tailwind.
"I'm sorry for all the consternation and grief that I've caused for POW/MIA families who still wonder and grieve about their missing loved-ones."
"I'm sorry that I planted the seed for them to think their loved ones could have possibly been murdered by American fighting men."
"I'm sorry to all Vietnam War veterans for casting doubts and aspersions on the honor of your brave and selfless service to our country. Men of character who stood up for their country when it was not the popular or fashionable thing to do."
Now that's an apology, Mr. Turner. It would be even more satisfactory if you concluded it with "I'm just one sorry SOB for letting this happen". Had you issued the above apologies, you would have been out of the woods with you baby intact.
"We didn't have evidence beyond a reasonable doubt.'' ... Is nothing more than just another insult to ALL Vietnam War vets.
But that's the best you can come up with? You can rest assured that this isn't going to fly with veterans now and never will.
CNN on July 2 retracted the story, apologizing to viewers and veterans for ``serious faults'' in its reporting. Time magazine, which printed a version of the story, also formally apologized.
Wrong on both counts, Mr. Turner. You neither apologized nor retracted. You said 'you couldn't prove at this time' for a retraction and again offered an apology but never got around to making one. All you really did was deliver yet another insult. You really don't understand, do you?
Turner said he believes the report on Operation Tailwind was wrong, though the CNN producers responsible for it, Jack Smith and April Oliver, have said they stand by it. Both were fired and a third producer quit.
Whether he believed the report was correct or not, Turner said, ``we didn't have evidence beyond a reasonable doubt.''
FALSE, you had tons of evidence of the REAL story of Tailwind. You just couldn't figure out how to distort it to your fit your anti-American agenda. This is again your 'retraction' statement? Sure, Ted, this is really a hard-hitting retraction and apology, isn't it?
The rush to break an important story and the pressure of a competitive media market led to the faulty report, he said.
Again NOT TRUE. You had plenty of information in-hand to produce a true and factual account of that now-famous operation. There was no "rush", by your own admissions they worked on it for 8 months.
``I'm not making any excuses whatsoever,'' he said. ``I'm just explaining what happened.''
Of course you're making excuses here... desperately and pathetically trying to buy time so that people will forget about it. If you think you're going to escape this ugly mess you've gotten yourself into by thinking you can make people 'forget about it for a while, you're badly mistaken. You really should have taken a lesson from your wife's experience with double-crossing American veterans. WE DO NOT FORGET TREASONOUS CONDUCT.
Turner said the impact of the retracted story hurt him emotionally more than his father's death, his divorces or his Atlanta Braves baseball team losing to the New York Yankees in the 1996 World Series.
Snivvel, snivvel, stop whining, Mr. Turner. It's not becoming of a corporate executive of your position.
``I feel horrible about it. CNN was my baby from the very beginning,'' he said. He noted that a poll taken before the story and its retraction had named CNN as the most respected U.S. news source.
That's history as long as you're there... Mark those words down. This is going to live in the minds of American veterans. Tailwind Ted, Hanoi Jane and their pal, Baghdad Pete will long be remembered by those who wore this country's uniform in battle.
Now vice chairman of Time Warner, which owns Time magazine and CNN, Turner said he plays a ``kind of supervisory, consulting role'' for the cable network.
"Kind of...?" What the hell are you trying to spoon-feed us here, Ted?
He vowed that CNN is taking steps to guard against such problems, including the creation of an oversight panel to review stories. ``I think the majority of people will forgive and forget,'' Turner predicted.
Dream on here, Mr. Turner. Tailwind Ted, Baghdad Pete and Hanoi Jane will all LONG be remembered by American veterans, their families and anyone they can influence. You can consider it your legacy after what you did to brave American fighting men with your patently fabricated lie about Operation Tailwind. No, we are DEFINITELY NOT going to forget nor forgive on this one.
Turner also defended the network's decision to punish veteran reporter Peter Arnett with a reprimand, while others connected with the report were fired.
He lied, now you lie more and stand by him? That sure inspires our confidence, Ted. This says a LOT about your ability to run a news organization. Arnett interviewed the actual pilot that dropped the tear gas to valiantly save our surrounded fighting men then comes out with the skewed, cockeyed and patently false story he produced and reported an you published and you still defend him?
Sounds like both of you need to be replaced. Three counts; honesty, judgement and integrity. None of any of it in either of you on the Tailwind story.
``His past courageous contributions weighed heavily in the decision to spare him from resigning or being fired,'' Turner said, citing Arnett's work covering the Persian Gulf War for CNN.
You're referring to the billions of advertising revenue $ he generated for you here, right? Certainly not for the treasonous 'baby milk' enemy propaganda piece you aired for him during that war.
Arnett, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of the Vietnam War as an Associated Press reporter, has said his involvement in the story was limited to interviews using pre-arranged questions and narration.
Bald-faced LIE ! He could have asked Art Bishop anything he wanted to. In fact Col. Bishop clearly, directly and unequivocly told him Serin gas WAS NOT USED in the interview Arnett conducted per the following story.
Come to find out, we've been studying Mr. Arnett's Vietnam War reporting record, too. It seems he most likely made up his famous "We have to burn the village in order to save it" routine. Unless, of course, that's from the same source as his 'confidential' Tailwind sources.
The story for which he was awarded the Pulitzer was also found to be flawed but somehow the prize was never rescinded.
It's good you like him and want to stand by him. It's hard these days to find many other people who do...