ABC’s Koppel Flies to Baghdad

ABC newsman Ted Koppel flew to Baghdad from Amman, Jordan, on Tuesday, becoming the first Western journalist allowed inside Iraq since the start of the Persian Gulf crisis.

CBS and NBC said they were sending correspondents to the Iraqi capital as well. As of late Tuesday, however, CNN had not received permission to send anyone to Iraq.

Koppel spoke to anchorman Peter Jennings by phone to lead the Tuesday edition of ABC’s “World News Tonight,” reporting that the Iraqi government is using the term “restrictees” to describe American citizens being held in that nation. Koppel spoke to Jennings from the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.

ABC said late Tuesday that plans for Koppel and his “Nightline” program to broadcast live from Baghdad were indefinite and would depend on satellite availability and other technical considerations.

Meanwhile, CBS reported that anchorman Dan Rather, correspondent Allen Pizzey and “CBS Nightly News” executive producer Tom Bettag would fly to Iraq after Tuesday evening’s newscast. NBC reported that it expects to have a correspondent, probably Garrick Utley, in Iraq “within 24 hours.” Rather has been reporting on the gulf crisis from Amman. Utley, along with Koppel and “Nightline,” reported from Cairo during last week’s Arab League summit and on Monday reported from Amman.

None of the network news organizations allowed into Baghdad could explain the sudden change in policy by Iraq, which had refused to issue visas since the Aug. 2 invasion of Kuwait. “We went through normal channels,” a CBS spokesman said.