PRESS WATCH : Being There

Peter Arnett has heard sniper fire before, but nothing quite like what he is attracting in Baghdad.

He won a Pulitzer Prize in 1966, covering the Vietnam War for the Associated Press, and stayed with the war to the end. In just under 10 years as a CNN correspondent, he has covered hot wars from Nicaragua, Angola and Beirut to the Cold War from Moscow.

What is new about the latest turn in his career as a solid and dedicated reporter is his decision to stay after other Western journalists had left Baghdad, and cover the war from the other side. It makes some people uncomfortable.

That’s certainly understandable. Arnett is in Baghdad at the calculated sufferance, if not the calculating behest, of a cruel and manipulative government that is now fighting for its very life. Is he being used by the Iraqis for their own propagandistic purposes? No doubt he is, but on balance the benefits of his being there outweigh the distasteful reality of Baghdad’s crude and wholly unconvincing propaganda.

For instance, Arnett was criticized for characterizing (some said blatantly editorializing) his own interview with Saddam Hussein as “chilling.” But how else to describe a dictator calmly saying that he is prepared to use chemical, biological and nuclear weapons?

The White House dismissed that as “the same old propaganda,” and that certainly is true. But being able to watch a dispassionate threat of mass death is a learning experience. Arnett deserves thanks, not sniping, for doing a dangerous job as well as possible under the circumstances.