I have been holding off on judging Brian Williams, is he lying or exaggerating his helicopter experience, but after reliable sources have come out and said that his helicopter and others in the formation were not attacked, I think it is probably the end for Brian Williams career with NBC. That is, unless there is a statute of limitations on lying.

[Edited by Don Birkholz (2/7/2015 7:06:35 AM)]

I agree with you as I have been a Brian Williams fan. But I have seen and heard some news that they have uncovered that he has lied about other news stories. One in regards to Hurricane Katrina. He is scheduled to be on David Letterman next week. Should be interesting if he does not cancel.

(CBS News) - Brian Williams won't be anchoring NBC News' nightly newscast "for the next several days," he wrote in a statement issued Saturday.

A day after the network launched an internal investigation into statements he made about his reporting in Iraq, Williams said, "It has become painfully apparent to me that I am presently too much a part of the news, due to my actions."

Williams recently apologized for falsely saying on the air that he was in a helicopter hit by a rocket-propelled grenade while in Iraq in 2003.

Maybe he should Ask John Kerry for some advise,

http://www.balloon-juice....-williams/

Memory can't really be trusted.

I don't trust anyone in the so-called news media. That's why I get my news from Bill O'Reilly and Glenn Beck.

When I want the real truth I come to the milescity.com forums.

I watch NBC Nightly News for about 10 minutes a month so no matter what happens it's not a huge impact for me. I find Williams' on-the-air tone and demeanor to be tolerable. If you disagree with his politics (i.e. "He's too liberal.") that may have as much to do with his boss(es) as him.

If you put yourself in his shoes, probably pretty scared flying around wartime Iraq in a helicopter ("those things get shot down all the time!") with discussion of other aircraft taking enemy fire, and landing in a place other than you were supposed to where you saw a helicopter with damage from (you were told) an RPG, and so forth... he may not readily know if that damaged helicopter was in his original group of helicopters or a different group. He may not have been privy to the radio communications that the soldiers heard. He may have been seated in a center rear seat where visibility of things going on around the helicopter is poor.

I don't know in what context he originally told the story but I could see how he could unknowingly misstate what really happened, then have the public glom onto the slightly incorrect story ("Brian Williams' helicopter was shot down!") at which point he is boxed in to either playing along or having to correct himself and let everyone down ("Brian Williams' helicopter wasn't really shot down, but landed next to one that nearly was!"). It's not until everyone starts calling him a liar and demanding his head that he fully appreciates the consequences of not speaking up.

That's my take on it.

Brian Williams embellishes one story= firestorm

Fox news lies for 20 years = number one news Channel. 

WTF

[Edited by Richard Bonine, Jr. (2/7/2015 11:53:24 PM)]

I don't know why the army people on Brian's helicopter are so angry with Brian's lie, unless they were told "don't take Brian close to the fighting", and with Brian's " account", they had seemingly disobeyed orders and by Brian's lying, got those in charge of the flight in trouble for disobeying an order.

But the facts indicate none of the helicopters were shot at in any way (small arms fire or RPG's) and the helicopters had to land due to a dust storm.

I believe the story goes that a group of (three?) helicopters took off ahead of Brian Williams' group. That group of helicopters did come under fire, including an RPG passing through the rear of one of the helicopters.

Williams' group of helicopters took off later (30 - 60 minutes) and was forced to land due to a dust storm. They landed next to the helicopter that took the RPG hit.

Can you see that Williams might be confused and believe that the helicopter with the RPG damage was one of the helicopters in his group? Everyone gets out of the helicopter he's in and surveys the damaged helicopter. Lots of "Oh, wow! That was a really close call!" discussion going on -- it would have been pretty fresh for the soldiers who were on the damaged aircraft. They've got an NBC news crew there and they're going to play it up just how dangerous their job is (which it is).

Here are pictures from that day with the RPG damaged helicopter:

Scenes from a 2003 NBC report by Mr. Williams included a Chinook copter on the mission carrying a part for a bridge, a soldier on one of the helicopters and the Chinook that took rocket fire. In his 2003 report, Mr. Williams did not say that he had been on the helicopter that was hit by rocket fire. New York Times

From what I have heard, Williams' said that his helicopter was near the helicopter that took the RPG, and others have said Brian's helicopter was in another formation and nowhere near the damaged helicopter.

Why post "what you have heard"? The actual stories are available online to review for yourself.

http://www.nytimes.com/20....html?_r=0

FH

He's despicable, right wingnuts?

MSN: New York Times: How Brian Williams's Iraq Story Changed

And during Katrina, Brian was in a hotel that he said was overrun by gangs. (Hard to believe since the police were using the hotel for a staging area).

I heard he survived the Battle of the Little Bighorn

Brian has been suspended immediately, without pay for 6 months.

So, Jon Stewart is going to take over for Brain Williams?

According to Brian, he was in a Blackhawk helicopter, flying over Israel and some missiles passed under his helicopter, and he said to "some four star general"....

Sorry Brian, there are no four star generals in Israel.

Nobody died when Brian Williams lied.

So who cares.

Don Birkholz wrote:

And during Katrina, Brian was in a hotel that he said was overrun by gangs. (Hard to believe since the police were using the hotel for a staging area).

Don't know why anyone would doubt that the hotel being used as a police staging area would not be overrun by a gang. The two biggest organized gangs in the United States are the US Military and the Police.