Now, I'm not calling CNN "American Morning" host Miles O'Brien stupid, or uneducated, or unfit to anchor a national news show. Nope, not me. I would never do that. I'll just let ole Miles do it himself.
Witness the exchange O'Brien had with a U.S. Marine this morning. O'Brien asked--and I'm paraphrasing here--"How does it feel to be a Marine, being back in Lebanon? After all, it's right in the Marine Corps hymn: 'to the shores of Tripoli'--which is right near here, in Lebanon." Actually, no, Miles. There is a Tripoli, Lebanon, but there is also a Tripoli, Libya. And it was at that Tripoli, in Libya, that the Marines fought in 1805.
Then, a few minutes later, Miles was speaking with CNN correspondent Richard Roth, reporting on the accidental killing of the four UN observers in Lebanon. Roth said that the peacekeepers had been there since 1978. But after Roth signed off, Miles said, with a smug look, "Of course, they, the UN observers, have only been there since 2000." Once again, Miles was wrong. The UNIFIL contingent has, in fact, been there since 1978.
O'Brien apologized to Roth about an hour later, and Roth was nice, saying, "Of course, the anchor is always correct."
But of course, the anchor is NOT always correct. Back to you, Miles.
