No one cheered on the U.S. invasion of Iraq louder than Fox News, but the conservative cable channel's reporters also put American troops in danger with their irresponsible journalism—at least according to a new book by former Marine.
"Although I'm sure other networks weren't blameless, Fox News, ironically, earned the worst reputation for their carelessness with Department of Defense ground rules for embedded media—and possible Coalition lives," writes Josh Rushing, a Central Command spokesman-turned-Al Jazeera correspondent, in his new book, Mission Al Jazeera.
Most famously, Geraldo Rivera almost got kicked out of Iraq after he drew a map in the sand on live TV showing the locations of American units. At least as bad, but less publicized, was when a Fox reporter showed where the weak spot was on an Abrams tank: "So if you were a Fedayeen soldier and didn't know that much about the Abrams tank you might say, 'Oh, I should save my RPG shot until I can get around to the side.' Thanks, Fox News!"
More of Rushing's revelations after the jump ...