Peter Arnett Dies: CNN Gulf War Correspondent, Pulitzer-Winning Vietnam Reporter Was 91

Peter Arnett, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter whose international war journalism brought him widespread renown from the Vietnam era through the Gulf wars, died December 17 of prostate cancer in Newport Beach, CA. He was 91.

His death was announced by his family, with son Andrew Arnett telling the Associated Press and CNN that the former CNN journalist was surrounded by family and friends at his death.

Born on November 13, 1934, in Riverton, New Zealand, Arnett rose to prominence for his work as a wire-service correspondent in Vietnam from 1962 until the war’s end in 1975. He won the 1966 Pulitzer Prize for international reporting for his war coverage for The Associated Press.

Arnett remained with the AP until 1981, when he signed on with the fledgling CNN.

Later in his career, Arnett would re-emerge as a leading journalistic voice for his 1991 reports on the Gulf War for CNN. He and his team were among the last foreign reporters broadcasting from Baghdad after Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein forced out most international journalists.

In addition to his reportage on what the AP/CNN obituary called “front-line fighting,” Arnett scored exclusive, controversial interviews with Hussein and future 9/11 planner Osama bin Laden.

Arnett’s career also included some low points. He quit CNN in 1999 in the wake of a false report that deadly nerve gas had been used in Laos in 1970 on deserting American soldiers. Although Arnett served only as the TV report’s narrator, the story, retracted by CNN, proved devastating to Arnett’s career.

Resurfacing on NBC and in National Geographic in 2003 to cover the second Gulf War in Iraq, Arnett was fired after an interview with Iraqi state TV in which he criticized the U.S. war strategy. He subsequently provided war coverage for outlets in Taiwan, the United Arab Emirates and Belgium. He taught journalism at China’s Shantou University starting in 2007 and retired to Southern California in 2014.

Arnett, who published his memoir Live From the Battlefield: From Vietnam to Baghdad, 35 Years in the World’s War Zones in 1995, is survived by wife Nina Nguyen and their children, Elsa and Andrew.