Pentagon: get out of Baghdad

[loupaulsen at attbi.com]

Is this a warning, or is it a warning and a threat?  If I were the CBS crew, I 
would stand a good safe distance from their satellite dish at all times.

lp
> And the last thing the brass wants is a bunch of reporters hanging around
> the place to report how really, really bad it is. . . .
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Doug Henwood [mailto:dhenwood at panix.com] 
> Sent: Friday, February 28, 2003 9:31 AM
> To: lbo-talk
> Subject: Pentagon: get out of Baghdad
> 
> 
> [of course, ordinary Iraqi civilians needn't worry about how really 
> really bad it's going to be]
> 
> New York Daily News - February 28, 2003
> 
> Get out now, reporters told
> Thomas M. DeFrank
> 
> WASHINGTON - The Pentagon warned journalists yesterday that they 
> should consider getting out of Baghdad.
> 
> "If there is military action, it is going to be a really, really bad 
> place to be," said chief Pentagon spokeswoman Victoria Clarke.
> 
> She and other Pentagon officials stopped short of urging news 
> organizations to pull their 250 reporters out of Iraq's capital, but 
> they repeatedly cautioned that they cannot count on a "heads-up" from 
> the Pentagon to evacuate the city before war begins.
> 
> Pentagon officials believe that in addition to being killed or 
> injured by hundreds of cruise missiles and smart bombs expected to 
> rain down on Baghdad, reporters risk being targeted for murder by 
> Saddam's troops or captured to be used as human shields.