<![CDATA[Gawker: war is hell]]> http://cache.gawker.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/gawker.com.png <![CDATA[Gawker: war is hell]]> http://gawker.com/tag/war is hell http://gawker.com/tag/war is hell <![CDATA[ CBS News Temptress Nabbed Iraq Booty ]]> SafariScreenSnapz014.jpgAs if 60 Minutes correspondent Lara Logan hadn't kicked up enough dirt in Iraq — she supposedly broke up a marriage and caused a lovers' brawl — she's now under investigation by the feds for looting. A reporter for Broadcasting & Cable somehow got into Logan's CBS office with a camera, and lo and behold, found some serious war spoils, including a two portraits of Saddam Hussein that Logan picked up from wrecked buildings. The authorities have already gone after other TV journalists for taking home souvenirs, which is, as ERS News noted, illegal under Iraqi law, so it was a bit dumb of Logan to let anyone into her office with camera. But then nothing screams "I am a hardened war reporter" like an ornament from inside enemy territory. And by Logan's standards this is a fairly low-grade scandal. Heck, by the standards of Iraqi looting it's a low-grade scandal. But it involves a pretty TV lady, so maybe try and get outraged by the clip after the jump.

]]>
Gawker-5058494 Fri, 03 Oct 2008 05:31:26 EDT Ryan Tate http://gawker.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5058494&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[ McCain Blamed Sadistic Gays For Ill-Treatment In Vietnam ]]> Back in 1973, when young John McCain had just been released from his five hellish years of torture at the hands of the North Vietnamese, he became a media sensation back home. His tale of heroism inspired the nation, and his refusal to back down and give in to his captors demands was thrilling stuff. Queerty tracked down what may be McCain's first personal account of his captivity and torture, for US News & World Report in May of 1973. They posted it online in January, but maybe it's because we're all so familiar with his tale at this point that no one noticed, until now, the bit where he says all his captors were homosexuals who got off on whipping him. No, that is not made up.

Now I don't hate them any more—not these particular guys. I hate and detest the leaders. Some guards would just come in and do their job. When they were told to beat you they would come in and do it. Some seemed to get a big bang out of it. A lot of them were homosexual, although never toward us. Some, who were pretty damned sadistic, seemed to get a big thrill out of the beatings.

Yes, ok. What?? How did POW McCain know they were gay if they weren't gay "toward him"? Were the homosexuals the ones who enjoyed the beatings or were the sadists a separate category? We have lots of unanswered questions here. Like&mdash;how come he mentions how gay the North Vietnamese were but leaves out that inspiring tale of the cross on the floor he mentioned last weekend?

John McCain, Prisoner of War [USNews via Queerty]

]]>
Gawker-5038534 Mon, 18 Aug 2008 16:48:38 EDT Pareene http://gawker.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5038534&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[ 3's a Trend: Another Journo Shot in Georgia ]]> Sheesh. War sucks! Here's more journalists getting fired at in the line of duty—they all lived, we think!—followed by yesterday's clips of warzone violence. Update: The Committee to Protect Journalists writes with context:"That video you posted shows Turkish journalists in a car under fire—one of the three in the car was injured." Sadly, at least three journalists have been killed in Georgia since fighting broke out.

]]>
Gawker-5037746 Fri, 15 Aug 2008 17:44:07 EDT Pareene http://gawker.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5037746&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[ Journos Shot in Georgia! ]]> Ohh, Georgians. It will be hard to maintain your current favorable coverage in the US press if you do things like this. The attached clip shows a Fox News reporter running from gunfire from Georgian troops. The absoltely amazing thing is that as he's running from them he's still, like, totally on their side? They are exhausted and humiliated by those Russians (those baaad Russians!). Also who hasn't wanted to make a Fox News correspondent dance a little, right? Totally understandable! (For balance, the clip is followed by a clip of a Georgian journalist getting shot in the arm on-air by a sniper. Presumably a Russian sniper? Who knows. Fog of war!)

]]>
Gawker-5037232 Thu, 14 Aug 2008 16:46:36 EDT Pareene http://gawker.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5037232&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[ Mean Judge Tries to Clamp Down on Lara Logan Gossip ]]> The man and his estranged wife at the heart of the recent mostly bullshit sex scandal involving CBS correspondent Lara Logan have both been ordered by a judge to stop talking to the gossip-starved press, long, long after everything damaging ended up in the papers. Contractor Joseph Burkett—who's now in a relationship with Logan after he impregnated her in Baghdad—is trying to divorce his wife Kimberly back home in Texas. She (or her attorney) took the story to The Enquirer, and then Logan took her side of the story to the Washington Post, and now the judge presiding over the divorce has finally issued gag orders to Joe and Kim. Now we won't learn anything embarrassing about them ever again! [DailyTimes]

]]>
Gawker-5024309 Fri, 11 Jul 2008 12:58:22 EDT Pareene http://gawker.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5024309&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[ Lara Logan With Child, Howard Kurtz With Exclusive ]]> No wonder Lara Logan was so cranky on The Daily Show—she's preggers! Logan, the CBS war correspondent whose well-deserved promotion to CBS' chief foreign affairs correspondent was overshadowed by all this homewrecking nonsense, is now safely in Washington and expecting a child with Joseph Burkett, the contractor she famously carried on an affair with while stationed in Baghdad. The scoop comes from Washington Post "media critic" Howard Kurtz, which is funny, because he is generally useless and was all hand-wringy about how tabloidy this story was last week. Funny how a little exclusive can change a guy's mind, right? More passionate wartime forbidden love, below.

Both Logan and Burkett were married (and both also reportedly separated, though the Enquirer glossed over that point), both are divorcing, and Logan, according to Kurtz, expects to marry Burkett eventually.

We're happy that things seem to be working out for Lara, though Burkett does not actually sound like much of a catch. Between the fact that he's a mysterious "civilian contractor" and the fact that his other marriage ended in the bitterest divorce ever on account of him spending the entirety of it—including the pregnancy and birth bits—war profiteering in Iraq, maybe he is not the marrying kind? Or maybe that's just his psycho ex-wife, who took the story to the Enquirer in the first place.

We just feel bad for CNN reporter Michael Ware, the other other man, for being totally overshadowed in all this.

Logan did not even think she was able to get pregnant, because she is missing a fallopian tube, so this homewrecking Baghdad warzone baby is truly a miracle. Once it is born it can take over Meet the Press.

]]>
Gawker-5022948 Tue, 08 Jul 2008 11:34:38 EDT Pareene http://gawker.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5022948&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[ CBS War Correspondent Gets Promotion, Sex Scandal ]]> Apparently some CBS execs saw their foreign correspondent Lara Logan on The Daily Show last week, and, like thousands of young men across the nation, they said, "who is that cutie?" It turned out she already worked for them! But because she insisted on reporting depressing news from depressing places like Afghanistan and Iraq, she never made it on-air. That will change! A CBS press release says Ms. Logan will now be "CBS News’ Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent and will be based in Washington, D.C." Effective immediately! Now Ms. Logan can shoot herself in the head when she's forced to watch the news they show us here in the states. Oh, and also, did you know she is a HOMEWRECKER? Oh ho ho yes she is.

The ENQUIRER has learned exclusively that CBS Evening News and 60 Minutes foreign correspondent, Lara Logan, has been named as the “other woman” in a Texas couple Joe and Kimberly Burkett's bitter divorce.

Burkett’s wife Kimberly, 32, was so distraught with his cheating that she took an overdose of Valium

Kimberly Burkett's attorney Susie Chmielowiec told The ENQUIRER, “Kimberly believes Lara stole her husband – and now they’re trying to steal her little girl."

And in a twist that’s as shocking as any story Lara has covered, sources are charging she also had another affair, and her two lovers got into a brutal battle over her in Baghdad!

Sources charge that the Emmy winning Logan began her affair with 36-year-old U.S. State Department contractor, Burkett in war-torn Baghdad.

And yet another scandal brews in the steamy mix: Lara’s reported romance with a star CNN correspondent – whose jealousy exploded in a battle royal with Burkett in a Baghdad “safe house.”

“Not only is Lara having a torrid affair with a married man – she apparently has more than one lover!” Chmielowiec charged to The ENQUIRER.

When CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric heard about Lara’s sexual shenanigans, she blew a gasket!

What is your favorite part of that story? Katie Couric blowing a gasket is good, but we particularly enjoy the bit where an affair is "as shocking as any story Lara has covered." Because, like, she reports from war zones, where people are fighting wars and stuff.

Of course none of this is really shocking at ALL because foreign correspondents basically all sleep with everyone they can. It's stressful work and adrenaline runs high. Though some war zones are more conducive to this sort of thing. It depends on heat, relative humidity, and availability of showers.

Update: SO the print Enquirer further claims that Logan's second affair is with CNN reporter Michael Ware, and that Ware fought Burkett over it in Baghdad.

Then the contractor dude who announced in court that he's having this affair with Logan told his wife that he killed people in Iraq. Which is maybe not true?

Finally, Lara was "entertaining" some people in Baghdad when Ware came in and then him and Burkett fought for HOURS and even ended up in the CNN safehouse! It's amazing they had time to cover the war, what with all this drama.

Lara supposedly "sputtered" something when an Enquirer reporter inquired about her husband, and her husband is said to have had no comment. Whee. We're still not clear on how Katie Couric is involved?

CBS NEWS LARA LOGAN DIVORCE WAR [Enquirer]

]]>
Gawker-5019517 Wed, 25 Jun 2008 10:59:38 EDT Pareene http://gawker.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5019517&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[ Sensitive State Dept. Document Explains What Happens When Cars Stop Being Police, Start Going Boom ]]> Slate found this 2005 State Department brochure on car bombs at the closed and then re-opened Wikileaks. Its amazing subtitle speaks for itself. Perhaps we could've averted a national catastrophe if, back in 2001, President Bush had been handed a national security briefing headlined "Bin Laden Determined to Make US E'Splode!"

]]>
Gawker-371858 Tue, 25 Mar 2008 10:54:46 EDT Pareene http://gawker.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=371858&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[ War Makes You Kill Your Favorite Author ]]> littleprince.jpg88-year-old Horst Rippert, a German fighter pilot during WWII, learned that he shot down and killed one of his favorite authors during the war: Antoine de Saint-Exupery, author of The Little Prince and seven other books. Rippert learned the identity of one of his "kills" through a historian writing Saint-Exupery's biography; he told the Mail, "I knew he was a French pilot, but he was probably my favourite author at the time... I am shocked and sorry." [Mail on Sunday]

]]>
Gawker-369418 Tue, 18 Mar 2008 17:40:52 EDT Sheila http://gawker.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=369418&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[ Prediction ]]> The puppy torture video will end the Iraq war. [Fimoculous]

]]>
Gawker-363293 Mon, 03 Mar 2008 17:33:37 EST Pareene http://gawker.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=363293&view=rss&microfeed=true