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Related Media Monitors and Columns Reed Irvine's Letter to the Chairman of CNN Reed Irvine's Letter to the Managing Editor of TIME CNN NewsStand CNN NewsStand
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July 2, 1998 CNN’S CREDIBILITY CONTINUES CLOUDY On July 2, CNN retracted and apologized for two charges made on "NewsStand, CNN & Time" on June 7. One was that Operation Tailwind, a Special Forces foray into Laos in 1970, was mounted to kill American defectors. The other was that lethal nerve gas was dropped on a "village base camp" where defectors were allegedly located and on North Vietnamese troops. Deluged by protests from outraged Special Forces veterans, CNN and Time launched investigations into the accuracy of the reporting. Attorney Floyd Abrams’ investigation for CNN rightly concluded that the charges made were insupportable and that a retraction should be made. But Abrams then took out his whitewash brush and wrote, "We have found no credible evidence at all of any falsification of an intentional nature at any point in the journalistic process. The CNN journalists...believed in every word they wrote." Is Abrams preparing to defend CNN against a libel suit? He is saying that there was no malice, but those who read his 30-page report will find some very strong evidence of reckless disregard of the truth. It reveals CNN producer April Oliver’s single-minded determination to get people to say that nerve gas was used in Tailwind. Over 12 pages of Abrams’ report are devoted to her questioning of Admiral Thomas H. Moorer. Abrams says the broadcast made Moorer appear to be "the most consistent and visible supporter" of CNN’s two charges. But after analyzing the Q and A that was not aired, Abrams says that "the substance of Moorer’s interviews do not confirm" either charge. That’s not deliberate falsification? We interviewed all the identified sources that CNN used on its program who addressed the charges that CNN was making. All but one appeared to support them, but when examined, their credibility melts like butter on a hot griddle. Here are some important facts about CNN’s witnesses that the producers of the program did not disclose. Robert Van Buskirk was used to give the impression that both charges were true. But he told us that the mission had nothing to do with defectors and that he never said nerve gas was used. We pointed out that he implied that it was used when he said, "I looked down into the valley. All I see is bodies, and they’re not fighting any more." He responded, "I only said they weren’t fighting, not that they were dead." He says he was told at the time that it was tear gas. He was disappointed that CNN didn’t report his belief that Operation Tailwind was a CIA trap set to get the commandos killed. He told CNN he had forgotten all about two Caucasians he claims he killed, recovering his memory only when they interviewed him. He told us that he omitted this story from his 1983 book, "Tailwind," because the writer who helped him thought it was too gruesome for the audience he wanted to reach. David Young, one of the Tailwinders, says when Van Buskirk first told this story he said the men were Korean. Van Buskirk later acquired a criminal record while serving in Germany. It took us 45 minutes to determine that Van Buskirk was not a credible witness. Are we to believe that CNN’s reporters and producers never discovered that? Michael Hagen is the only Tailwind veteran who claims that the gas dropped to deter the enemy troops was nerve gas. He was exposed to the gas, as were many of the commandos. His doctor says that an illness he has developed is the result of exposure to nerve gas, and Hagen wants the government to recognize that he has a service-connected disability. It was not just an accident that CNN used Hagen rather than Mike Rose, the medic on the operation, or any of a dozen other participants who say that Hagen inhaled the same tear gas that hit them. Jay Graves, a Special Forces veteran, was used to confirm that sarin was used and that the mission may have targeted defectors. Graves claimed to have headed a reconnaissance team that observed Caucasians in the base camp that the commandos all say they stumbled across by accident on their last day. Graves denied to us that he said that sarin had been used on Tailwind. He claims that what he was shown saying on the program was about something that happened later. Graves’ records show that he was never in Laos, and he has admitted it. Jim Cathey, an Air Force veteran, was the only person CNN showed who said that the purpose of Tailwind may have been to kill defectors. He claimed to have been with an Air Force recon team on the ground in Laos during the operation and that he saw 10 to 15 Caucasians in the base camp. Cathey had an Air Force desk job in Vietnam, and his account of how he got to Laos is ridiculous, and his records show he was never there. With Cathey that makes five wild pitches in a row, and that calls for replacing the pitcher, not the outfielders. At CNN three producers have quit or been fired, but President Richard Kaplan hangs on to his desk leaving CNN’s credibility hanging by a thread. |
