Voice of America, March 31, 2003

The U.S. television network NBC has fired Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Peter Arnett over an interview he gave to state-run Iraqi television.

In a statement today, NBC said it was "wrong" for Mr. Arnett to be interviewed by the state-controlled outlet, especially at a time of war.

Mr. Arnett told Iraqi TV that the United States misjudged the resolve of Iraqi forces, and Washington is re-writing its war plan because of resistance.

He apologized for the interview which was broadcast Sunday, calling it a misjudgement.

Mr. Arnett, one of the few Western journalists left in Baghdad, is on assignment for National Geographic Explorer and had filed stories for NBC and its sister networks, MSNBC and CNBC.

Mr. Arnett won the Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of the Vietnam War, and received prominence the 1991 Gulf War reporting for CNN television from Baghdad.

He was later reprimanded by CNN for a report alleging U.S. forces had used sarin gas in Laos in 1970 to kill American defectors.