CNN reporter told a lie today

At about 45 seconds into the clip below the reporter (Chris Lawrence) discusses the possibility of a no-fly zone over Libya, and the guy says that it may not necessarily help, that the no-fly zone in Iraq did not prevent Saddam from mass murdering Shia in the south and putting down the 1991 uprising. The problem with this theory is that the US did not enforce a no-fly zone in southern Iraq until August, 1992, 17 months after the uprising began, long after the mass murder had taken place. In fact the US military ALLOWED Saddam to fly helicopters during the uprising: 'at the Safwan negotiations, Schwarzkopf carelessly authorized the Iraqis to use helicopter gunships on their side of the cease-fire line. The Iraqi generals were so surprised by that concession—which permitted them to strafe and rocket Kurds and Shiites from the air—that one of the Iraqi generals incredulously asked: "So you mean even the helicopters that are armed can fly in the Iraqi skies?"'

Also the reporter says that US troops were not in Iraq during the 1991 uprising. Wrong again, Chris. US troops had been all over southern Iraq and Kuwait in March 1991, it has been well documented. The uprising began on March 1 (some sources say March 2nd and 3rd) but half a million US troops only began to leave the area on March 10: "On 10 March 1991, 540,000 American troops began to move out of the Persian Gulf."

Also: 'U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher explained the next day on March 6: "We don't think that outside powers should be interfering in the internal affairs of Iraq." Consequently, U.S. occupation forces in Iraq stationed a few miles from Nasiriyah, Samawa, and Basra did nothing to help the anti-Saddam rebels.'

And: "The emboldened rebels wanted to move on Baghdad. They asked for support from the allied forces, still on the ground in southern Iraq, but were rebuffed."



I don't know if the lie was intentional. Maybe he just doesn't have the facts. Hope he does now!