NBC’s Brian Williams recants Iraq story after soldiers protest

[alp227]

Source: Stars & Stripes

WASHINGTON — NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams admitted Wednesday he was not aboard a helicopter hit and forced down by RPG fire during the invasion of Iraq in 2003, a false claim that has been repeated by the network for years.

Williams himself repeated the claim Friday during NBC’s coverage of a public tribute at a New York Rangers hockey game for a retired soldier that had provided ground security for the grounded helicopters. In an interview with Stars and Stripes, he said he had misremembered the events and was sorry.

The admission came after crew members on the 159th Aviation Regiment’s Chinook that was hit by two rockets and small arms fire told Stars and Stripes that the NBC anchor was nowhere near that aircraft or two other Chinooks flying in the formation that took fire. Williams arrived in the area about an hour later on another helicopter after the other three had made an emergency landing, the crew members said.

“I would not have chosen to make this mistake,” Williams said. “I don’t know what screwed up in my mind that caused me to conflate one aircraft with another.”

Read more: http://www.stripes.com/news/us/nbc-s-brian-williams-recants-iraq-story-after-soldiers-protest-1.327792

[DFW]

1. Well, since he never joined Fox Noise

This is one of those rare cases where it it is not OK, even if you are a Republican.

[freshwest]

64. The Devil Made Him Do It. (Roger Ailes and his alter ego Rupert Murdoch.) Or maybe it was the money.

[GeorgeGist]

2. NBC's brightest tool.

[Scuba]

3. I can say with some certainty that it's impossible to "misremember" your chopper getting shot up.

[Adsos Letter]

15. ^This^ n/t

[Fred Sanders]

21. Two RPG's hit one helicopter, an hour ahead of Williams, only one detonated. Misremembered?

[CanonRay]

27. I also thought his statement

Was very hard to believe. I would imagine such an event is very traumatic.

[Major Hogwash]

77. It depends upon the movie.

I can see where Brian Williams' story would fit right in with a movie like "Stripes" or "Top Gun, Choppers from Hell!"

Otherwise, this sort of bovine scatology makes me want to puke!

[msongs]

4. when the news "anchor" is a liar about himself, why trust him otherwise nt

[stillwaiting]

36. Too true. His credibility has been called in to serious question here.

Of course, it has on other occasions as well though, but this is quite blatant and troubling.

[sulphurdunn]

47. He has no credibility.

[raccoon]

83. Amen! He should resign. But I will be shocked--shocked if he does. nt

[thatgemguy]

5. This speaks volumes

About the state of journalism and news coverage today.

[Earth_First]

6. 'Misremembered' being hit by an RPG...

...happens all the time!

Right.

[George II]

7. I'll tell you what, if I was in a helicopter that was hit and forced down, I'd remember it....

....vividly. I sure as shit wouldn't "conflate" one aircraft with another!

[arcane1]

10. "I "conflated" the one that landed safely with the one that crashed."

[Fred Sanders]

19. One aircraft made a crash landing back at the forward operating base.

"The claim rankled Miller as well as soldiers aboard the formation of 159th Aviation Regiment Chinooks that were flying far ahead and did come under attack during the March 24, 2003 mission.

One of the helicopters was hit by two rocket-propelled grenades — one did not detonate but passed through the airframe and rotor blades — as well as small arms fire.

“It was something personal for us that was kind of life-changing for me. I’ve know how lucky I was to survive it,” said Lance Reynolds, who was the flight engineer. “It felt like a personal experience that someone else wanted to participate in and didn’t deserve to participate in.”

Reynolds said Williams and the NBC cameramen arrived in a helicopter 30 to 60 minutes after his damaged Chinook made a rolling landing at an Iraqi airfield and skidded off the runway into the desert."

[George II]

32. Maybe THAT is what happened to those Patriots footballs...they were conflated!

[arcane1]

8. A "mistake" to say that you were SHOT DOWN??

Bullshit. This isn't a case of "I thought I was in chopper #3, not #4".

NBC is just as much propaganda as the rest of them.

[Fred Sanders]

17. He was confused about being in the shot AT aircraft, not shot down...with the actual aircraft he was safely on?

"I was wrong," Williams said, according to the newspaper.

"I would not have chosen to make this mistake," he added. "I don’t know what screwed up in my mind that caused me to conflate one aircraft with another."

The crew members said Williams was on a different helicopter that arrived after the other aircraft made an emergency landing due to enemy fire.

...........

Could be confused I guess, but he found out quickly he was wrong...but stuck with the original mistake? For 11 years?

http://www.stripes.com/news/us/nbc-s-brian-williams-recants-iraq-story-after-soldiers-protest-1.327792

“The story actually started with a terrible moment a dozen years back during the invasion of Iraq when the helicopter we were traveling in was forced down after being hit by an RPG,” Williams said on the broadcast. “Our traveling NBC News team was rescued, surrounded and kept alive by an armor mechanized platoon from the U.S. Army 3rd Infantry.”

Williams and his camera crew were actually aboard a Chinook in a formation that was about an hour behind the three helicopters that came under fire, according to crew member interviews.

That Chinook took no fire and landed later beside the damaged helicopter due to an impending sandstorm from the Iraqi desert, according to Sgt. 1st Class Joseph Miller, who was the flight engineer on the aircraft that carried the journalists.

“No, we never came under direct enemy fire to the aircraft,” he said Wednesday.

The helicopters, along with the NBC crew, remained on the ground at a forward operating base west of Baghdad for two or three days, where they were surrounded by an Army unit with Bradley fighting vehicles and Abrams M-1 tanks."

[stillwaiting]

37. Maybe he's like Professor X of the X-Men and he was mentally connected to someone

on the chopper that got shot down, and it felt like he was on that choppa!

Other than that, he's a huge liar.

Or else he has a seriously disorganized mind.

Basically, his credibility has been destroyed. Unless he's Professor X...

[tblue37]

55. Am I the only one reminded of Hillary's story about dodging live sniper fire in Bosnia? nt

[Chemisse]

61. I keep thinking of that too.

I wonder if some of Brian Williams' critics were forgiving of Hillary Clinton's tale of terror.

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

87. I was going to mention that if nobody else did.

[freshwest]

67. Pull the other one, Brian (I'm a Journalist) Williams!

Example of challenge:

From Scene 1 of Monty Python and the Holy Grail:

KING ARTHUR:

Whoa there!

SOLDIER #1:

Halt! Who goes there?

ARTHUR:

It is I, Arthur, son of Uther Pendragon, from the castle of Camelot. King of the Britons, defeater of the Saxons, Sovereign of all England!

SOLDIER #1:

Pull the other one!

Yes, Brian...

[leveymg]

9. OMG - Williams is going early onset Reagan on us. Ronnie claimed he was a PBY pilot in WW2.

Reagan had played the role in a movie. I'm not sure about what set Brian's brain off.

[Exhibit A]

24. "Early onset Reagan" made me laugh.

[leveymg]

30. This SNL skit always cracked me up

https://screen.yahoo.com/president-reagan-mastermind-000000075.html

[Exhibit A]

40. Haaaa!!!

That is hilarious -- thanks!

[giftedgirl77]

11. How in da fuq?

Misremembered my ass. As someone who has experienced small arms fire from both the air & ground it is an unforgettable & unmistakable experience.

[Munificence]

88. As a combat vet myself

all I can say is:

FUCK YOU BRIAN!

[elias49]

12. Reminds me of Hillary Clinton 'dodging small arms fire'

in Bosnia a few years ago.

[TwilightGardener]

18. First thing I thought of. He and Hillary should get together and

have a beer and reminisce on their narrow escapes.

[tenderfoot]

35. I thought of Bill O'Reilly and his fake fire fights in Latin America

wom

[arcane1]

38. I was going to post a comment about that, but I chickened out

[DisgustipatedinCA]

60. Little-known "fact": Brian Williams was fighting right beside her the whole time. n/t

[bbgrunt]

63. yes.

[dhill926]

13. you lied, ya piece of shit….

and you got busted. Misremembered? Taking vocabulary lessons from W?

[tabasco]

14. Lying piece of shit

I "mis-remember" getting shot down in a helicopter. LOL.

Sorry fucker shouldn't be able to get a job in a 500-circulation newspaper.

[Fred Sanders]

16. And all of NBC covered up for his lies....for 11 years? And had him all along as national Anchor?

[rhett o rick]

20. "Misremembered"?? Really? Brian, Brian, Brian. nm

[Kelvin Mace]

22. “I would not have chosen to make this mistake,”

What a unique way to characterize lying.

[arcane1]

39. Right? Like we "choose" to make mistakes all the time

but every now and then a mistake is made that wasn't intentional

[tblue37]

56. He "misspoke." What he *meant* to say was "I would not have chosen to get caught in this

blatant, self-aggrandizing lie."

[valerief]

23. Well, all the more reason to "mislisten" to you, Brian. nt

[TwilightGardener]

25. It's OK, I misremember shit all the time. This morning I misremembered

that I pulled a bunch of children from a burning school bus and was a hero. In fact, it turns out that I never left home. I conflated the two experiences, obviously.

[Fred Sanders]

31. "I misremembered two RPG's hitting my helicopter with only one exploding, and then crash landing" is

hard to top.

He clearly remembers Dan Rather being fired for telling the truth about Iraq though. I bet.

[KeepItReal]

33. Obviously. Could happen to anyone.

Jeez...the nerve of that guy.

[arcane1]

43. This would make for a great Twitter meme

[Fred Sanders]

26. NBC News (March 26, 2003): "Target Iraq: Helicopter NBC's Brian Williams Was Riding In Comes Under Fire."

"Miller, Reynolds and Mike O’Keeffe, who was a door gunner on the damaged Chinook, said they all recall NBC reporting that Williams was aboard the aircraft that was attacked, despite it being false. The NBC online archive shows the network broadcast a news story on March 26, 2003, with the headline “Target Iraq: Helicopter NBC’s Brian Williams Was Riding In Comes Under Fire.”

[itsrobert]

28. So fired. Maybe he can work as an actor

Nt

[onethatcares]

53. hell no,

it's time to go into politics. He'll be able to tell folks like Max Cleland just what it feels like to misremember having his legs shot off.

He's a fuckin liar, a large liar.

[aggiesal]

65. His daughter is Allison Williams ...

who plays in HBO's "Girls"
Also playing Peter Pan in the live version this past Christmas Season.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm4129745/?ref_=tt_ov_st

So there is acting in the family.

Checkout the first scene of "Girls" in one of the last 2 episodes, I can't remember which.

[KeepItReal]

29. Scandalous. Bald face lie.

Unbelievable.

Brian Williams is no Dan Rather

[world wide wally]

41. Oh yeah. I just remembered it was the other chopper that got shot down. Not mine

WTF?

[tularetom]

42. Make up your mind Williams you douchebag, did you "misspeak, misremember, or conflate"?

Actually I think you fucking lied.

Since I'm reading stories about how MSNBC is going to clean house I have a suggestion for them. Fire this lying piece of shit and hire Rachel Maddow to take his place.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

44. People 'misremember' all the time.

Heck, a few years back, there was a female Presidential candidate who 'misremembered' having had to dodge sniper fire when she landed at an airstrip in Bosnia when there wasn't any.

Update: Foo, I should have scrolled through the comments first, I see someone else already remembered that in comment #12.

[kairos12]

45. "I would not have chosen"--that is weasel word grammar construction at its worst.

[FiveGoodMen]

57. "But my employers chose for me"?

Makes a better story, you know.

[BigDemVoter]

46. BULLSHIT

He lied out his ass. . . .

[cilla4progress]

48. Well this is disappointing.

I just started watching his evening news. I thought he was a little more "liberal" than the others. I like PBS, but have trouble devoting an hour at that time of day ...

[pa28]

49. So will he have to resign now like Dan Rather did?

I guess it doesn't matter. I don't think anyone actually watches his show.

[RoverSuswade]

50. I've always wanted to say this:

I thought Lester Holt should have gotten the News Anchor position instead of BW.

[Dont call me Shirley]

51. If Brian "could not have chosen to make this mistake ", then who did do the mistake choosing?

[wolfie001]

52. Being a wealthy newscaster just wasn't enough.....

....he felt the need to appear more manly. Misplaced machismo.

[Fred Sanders]

54. NBC, et tu?

Silly Brian, he forgot that all he needed to say was "that story was not intended to be a factual statement." Like a Foxite would.

End of story!

[Bonhomme Richard]

58. He would remember if he shit his pants that day. I would n/t

[AwakeAtLast]

80. OMG, that was soooo what I was thinking!

[undeterred]

59. Last night I misremembered the years from 2000-2008

I misremembered the Courts decision as being in favor of counting the votes, which resulted in Al Gore being president for 8 years. 9/11 never happened, there were no wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the world make great progress towards slowing climate change.

Then I woke up.

[Botany]

62. But don't forget we have a "liberal media."

Look, if W can live on a converted pig farm that was built in 1999 and 2000 by Enron
and Brian Williams and the others all dutifully reported on "President Bush spending time
@ his Prairie Chapel Ranch*," do you really expect Williams to report the truth?

BTW it is an easy mistake to make .... your helicopter being shut down and coming in
an hour later untouched .....


* Through DU I found out the cattle on W's ranch were rentals and that their manure
was not spread on the fields but instead trucked away because Laura didn't like the smell.

undeterred

[malokvale77]

71. Off topic

I'm about to start tomatoes from the seeds from the tomatoes that grew from the seeds you sent me.

Thank you again.

[Botany]

72. Good on you!

No guarantees that the plants will come up from seed as the same types.



But what the heck home grown tomatoes are always good.

[malokvale77]

73. I am certain they will be good. (nt)

[undeterred]

95. What kind of tomatoes should be thrown at Brian Williams?

[AZ Progressive]

66. Brian Williams, a very modern American news anchor indeed

Another reflection of the times, and shows how things have changed since the days of Walter Cronkite.

[LiberalAndProud]

68. I predict a demotion in Brian's future.

NBC needs to save face, even if Brian was encouraged to "misremember" by his superiors. This was, is and has always been a self-serving lie. The lie should cost him his job. Not that this will improve the current state of journalism, but at least it will be a nod to appearances.

[progree]

79. I don't. It was no more of a tall tale than Hillary in Bosnia braving sniper fire

and now she's a progressive super-heroine. And no "superior" coerced her to say what she said.

“I certainly do remember that trip to Bosnia,” she said, in remarks that aides described Monday as not being part of her prepared speech. “I remember landing under sniper fire. There was supposed to be some kind of a greeting ceremony at the airport, but instead we just ran with our heads down to get into the vehicles to get to our base.”

... CBS News showed footage of her walking calmly across the tarmac with her daughter, Chelsea, and being greeted by dignitaries and a child.

More: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/25/us/politics/25clinton.html

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023406166

[polly7]

85. I remember that. Still don't get why she would say it. nt.

[tularetom]

69. He works for Comcast, the worst company in America

He won't be fired unless they think he's costing them money. They will only believe he's costing them money if a bunch of right wing nut jobs tell them he is. So what you need to do is tell all your wing nut buddies and uncles, aunts, etc. that he disrespected the troops by lying about coming under enemy fire, just like Hillary Clinton did. They'll clamor for his immediate dismissal.

[malokvale77]

70. "misremembered the events"...

OK, sounds like Hillary.

[ClusterFreak]

74. That's roughly the same as one of the press corps covering President Kennedy...

....in Dallas saying they 'misremembered' if they were in the limo with him or not when the bullets started flying.

Right, daddy-o.

[olddad56]

75. why couldn't he just come out and say I'm a fucking liar

[olddots]

76. now its Good Morning Bakersfield with Brian Williams

[progree]

78. “Sorry dude, I don't remember you being on my aircraft. I do remember you walking up..."

The confession came at a New York Rangers game last week, after Williams reiterated his skewed version of events. The occasion was a tribute to retired Command Sgt. Major Tim Terpak, who’d provided security for the grounded helicopters Williams claimed to have been aboard.

In a comment on NBC Nightly News' Facebook page, under the video of Williams’ coverage of the tribute, Flight Engineer Lance Reynolds wrote “Sorry dude, I don't remember you being on my aircraft. I do remember you walking up about an hour after we had landed to ask me what had happened. Then I remember you guys taking back off in a different flight of Chinooks from another unit and heading to Kuwait to report your 'war story' to the Nightly News. The whole time we were still stuck in Iraq trying to repair the aircraft and pulling our own Security.”

More: http://news.yahoo.com/nbc-news--brian-williams-recants-story-iraq-helicopter-after-soldiers-protest-231038729.html

[AngryAmish]

81. A Comcast paid liar lies.

Next thing you will tell me is that water is wet.

[mac56]

82. I recall Dan Rather getting pelted with rocks and garbage for far less than this.

[polly7]

84. Why on earth would state such a huge lie they should have known could be easily

exposed? Just stupid.

[Skittles]

91. that seems strange to me too

can he really be that stupid?

[polly7]

92. I don't know ........ it's just really weird.

Maybe a compulsive liar who normally is good at hiding it ... I know a few people like that. They say things that are just so unbelievable and are genuinely surprised when no one believes them.

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

86. This statement sets my

Bullshit meter off- “I would not have chosen to make this mistake,” Williams said. “I don’t know what screwed up in my mind that caused me to conflate one aircraft with another.”

First off, who talks like that? Secondly, how can you first say "I was on a chopper that was hit by a rocket" and later try to lie your way out of the lie?

[candelista]

89. Reminds me of Hillary dodging bullets in Bosnia.

[grahamhgreen]

90. WTF. So we are now to believe him when he says he 'misremembered'? What if

he's misremembering his misremember?

[Zavulon]

94. If NBC keeps him on, they're no better than Faux.

“I would not have chosen to make this mistake,” Williams said. “I don’t know what screwed up in my mind that caused me to conflate one aircraft with another.”

Also, from another story (http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-31143744):

Replying to the criticism, Mr Williams said that "constant viewing of the video showing us inspecting the impact area - and the fog of memory over 12 years - made me conflate the two".

THIS is what I hate most. If he thinks he has a chance of passing any of this bullshit off, then he thinks his viewers are the sort of idiots who make garden-variety idiots point and say "Christ, what an idiot." It is impossible to respect your viewers and pass off drivel like this at the same time. My guess is that he thinks his viewers don't know what "conflate" means and are too lazy to look it up. I wish Williams nothing but the worst. Maybe Limpballs will give him a job (fetching coffee, hopefully).

The contempt I currently have for Brian Williams is endless. I look forward to him supersizing my Big Mac meal someday. I can't stand McDonalds, but I'd order some of their "food" from the one he was working at and then, just as he was handing me my food, make him double-check to ensure that he didn't conflate anything and that no "fog of memory" made him screw up my order. What a fucking asshole.