IMPACT OF THE GULF WAR : Book Publishers Pursue CNN’s Reporter in Iraq

The book business has a message for Cable News Network’s Peter Arnett: “Phone home.”

Arnett, who has stirred controversy with his dramatic if heavily censored reports from bomb-plagued Baghdad, is suddenly one of the publishing industry’s hottest commodities--in absentia.

Hungry editors and agents are convinced that an uncensored, no-holds-barred book by the veteran war correspondent would be an enormous seller both in the United States and abroad. “He’s perfect. He’s right there. He’s got to do it,” said Jane Dystel of the Acton & Dystel literary agency in New York.

But book people have found it difficult to jockey for position--or even to determine whether Arnett is interested in writing--because it is virtually impossible to establish contact with Baghdad, where channels of communication have been a prime target of the allied bombardment.

One person close to CNN said the network has been “inundated” by callers who would like to propose book or television projects to the 56-year-old correspondent. A CNN spokeswoman declined to comment on any such approaches or on Arnett’s literary intentions.

Arnett’s 23-year-old daughter, Elsa, who is a business reporter for the Boston Globe, said she’s had “random” contacts from people trying to reach her father, who can call out of Iraq on a briefcase-size satellite phone but can’t receive calls. “It’s ridiculous. It’s completely impossible to reach him,” she noted.

According to Elsa, however, at least one publisher, which she declined to identify, succeeded in delivering an expression of interest to Arnett through fellow journalist David Halberstam, a longtime friend who has spoken briefly with the correspondent in Baghdad.

The rest have been frustrated by Arnett’s lack of ties to the book world. Unlike Halberstam and others with whom he covered the Vietnam War as a Pulitzer Prize-winning correspondent for the Associated Press, Arnett has never attempted a book. He briefly considered collaborating with his daughter on a book two years ago but didn’t follow through on the project, and he is not represented by an agent or lawyer, his daughter said.

That lack of a literary track record hasn’t discouraged publishing executives and agents, some of whom speculate that a strong, detailed memoir by Arnett might command an advance as high as $3 million.

“It could be that rich,” said David Vigliano, a New York agent, who describes Arnett as “far and away the clearest choice” to do a journalistic account of the war. (Army Generals Norman Schwarzkopf and Colin Powell, Vigliano added, are most likely to be pursued for official memoirs.)

Earlier this week, the publishing industry rippled with a mistaken rumor that an agent for Arnett was soliciting offers from Random House and Simon & Schuster, two of the largest trade book publishers.

“The truth is, we would love to publish him. (May) our wishes (go) to his ears in Baghdad,” said Random House editor Peter Osnos. Osnos said Random has “begun to make inquiries” but hasn’t been able to contact the correspondent.

A Simon & Schuster spokesman likewise said his company doesn’t have a project in the works with Arnett. “But certainly if he puts out a book, it’s something we’d be interested in,” he added.

Esther Newberg, co-head of the International Creative Management agency’s book department, contends that $3 million is probably too much for an Arnett book. “The problem is, this becomes very iffy if the war drags on. . . . If I had him, I would try to sell (the book) right now,” she said.

Still, a publisher might be able to recoup a large advance by reselling rights to a TV producer, who might find the stuff of a miniseries in Arnett’s long, gritty career under the gun. In the words of Bill Block, president of Hollywood’s InterTalent agency: “This is obviously perfect for television. ‘He needed a war, and he got one.’ ”