Arnett to report for MSNBC

Peter Arnett, whose Baghdad reporting during the 1991 Gulf War helped put CNN on the map, will have a new outlet if there’s another war in Iraq: CNN rival MSNBC.

The veteran foreign correspondent, who left CNN under the cloud of a retracted documentary he anchored, was named Baghdad correspondent for “National Geographic Explorer,” a series that airs Sunday nights.

As part of the deal, Arnett will also provide live reports from Baghdad for MSNBC, “as we need him,” said an MSNBC spokesman. Although MSNBC and parent NBC News have their own reporters in Baghdad, Arnett, the spokesman said, “has more of a history over there than most reporters; he knows his way around.”

Elizabeth Jensen