Peter Arnett, Veteran War Reporter, Dies at 91

War correspondent Peter Arnett, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter who covered conflicts from Vietnam to the Gulf War, has died at the age of 91. Arnett’s decades-long career provided on-the-ground assessments of war that often challenged official accounts.

Early Career and Vietnam War Coverage

Arnett began his journalistic career at the Southland Times in the 1950s. He won the 1966 Pulitzer Prize for international reporting for his coverage of the Vietnam War for The Associated Press.

From 1962 until the end of the war in 1975, Arnett reported from Vietnam, often accompanying troops on missions. He was among the last reporters in Saigon when it fell to North Vietnamese forces.

He remained with the AP until 1981, when he joined CNN.

Gulf War and Later Career

Arnett gained widespread recognition during the first Gulf War in 1991, reporting live from Baghdad, where he interviewed then-president Saddam Hussein and documented the lives of Iraqi people under bombing.

He interviewed Osama bin Laden in 1997 at a secret hideout in Afghanistan, years before the September 11, 2001 attacks. When asked about his plans, bin Laden reportedly said, “You’ll see them and hear about them in the media, God willing,” according to the New York Times.

Arnett resigned from CNN in 1999 following a retraction of a report he narrated regarding the alleged use of Sarin nerve gas on American soldiers in Laos in 1970. He later covered the second Gulf War for NBC and National Geographic.

He left NBC in 2003 after an interview with Iraqi state television in which he was critical of US military strategy.

Personal Life and Legacy

Born on November 13, 1934, in Riverton, New Zealand, Arnett later became a naturalized American citizen. He published his memoir, Live From the Battlefield: From Vietnam to Baghdad, 35 Years in the World’s War Zones, in 1995.

Arnett lived in Southern California since 2014 and is survived by his wife, Nina Nguyen, and their children, Elsa and Andrew. He retained his New Zealand passport despite taking out American citizenship.

“Peter Arnett was one of the greatest war correspondents of his generation — intrepid, fearless, and a beautiful writer and storyteller,” said Edith Lederer, chief UN correspondent for the AP. “His reporting in print and on camera will remain a legacy for aspiring journalists and historians for generations to come.”