NBC's Brian Williams recants story about being in a helicopter brought down in Iraq

In the facebook comment, Williams says he was, "indeed on the Chinook behind the bird that took the RPG in tail housing just above the ramp."

That description, with the jargon, and level of detail, makes it sound like his "bird" was right behind the one that got it.

On NBC, he lost the jargon and the details. Now, he's just, "in a following aircraft."

But, it still gives the impression that his aircraft was flying together with the one that was hit, and that he witnessed it.

But, the reports are that he was 30 to 60 minutes behind.

This kind of half apology, and not admitting to the full story is as unacceptable as the original lie.

He's got to go.

 

Here's the clip of his original report of the incident:

Brian Williams: 'In an Effort to Honor and Thank a Veteran, I Made a Mistake' - NBC News

He makes it clear in this report that he wasn't in/on the helicopter that was hit, but he sure does make it sound like he was in great danger.

 

He should have gone with his first instinct and said he shot looters from the roof of the Louisiana Superdome.

He'd be immortalized.

 

Has Michael Moore called Williams a coward yet?

 

I understand what you're saying, and it may be true. But it still sure was nice that we felt like we could trust him. It definitely added to his persona and his work.

Seriously, this does not seem like the kind of thing a relatively young, healthy person misspeaks about or misremembers, particularly from such a public place/position, unless you consciously intend to do it.

 

He should have said he punched out Jesse Ventura.

 

No. If you say that, there are real consequences.

 

I'm actually curious about when he first made reference to being in the helicopter. He's saying that the fog of memory over 12 years caused him to conflate the two helicopters. If he went on the Nightly News the evening he returned from the mission and told the story as being in the helicopter that got shot down, that's quite a bit different than if he said 12 years later at a memorial service that he was in it.

Also, is it definitive that he was trailing the chopper that was shot down, or did he arrive on scene 60 minutes later? One of those links earlier had a soldier saying Williams came up to him 60 minutes after the crash to ask if he was OK, but that doesn't necessarily mean he wasn't on site that entire time.

Either way, I think more and more that he has to go. You just can't make up stories like this as the anchor of the evening news. Not if you want anyone to believe everything else you and your staff are reporting.

 

Someone needs to clarify this. There is a huge, huge difference between being in the formation that was fired upon, and arriving an hour later.

That will determine if it's fireable or if it's stolen valor, etc.

I was under the impression that he was on another chopper in the formation. If that's the case, I find it hard to get worked up about it. It's not like he's on the campaign trail or something. It's a completely different story if he didn't arrive until an hour later.

 

I agree that this is key, though putting himself in the helicopter that was his is still inexcusable.

Here he is again telling the story, in which he is in one of the other helicopters, but clearly one of four on the same mission:

From the video in the original NBC broadcast, it does appear that his helicopter is transporting one of the bridge pieces, so it would lead me to believe his helicopter was traveling with the one that was hit.

 

Steve Liewer of the Omaha World-Herald has an interesting story that sheds more light. Liewer, who was a reporter with Star and Stripes in 2003, interviewed some of the crew members:

NBC's Brian Williams recants helicopter claim, but differences remain between his, soldiers' accounts - Omaha.com: Military

 

What we do know is that his daughter took a tongue in tail. This is indisputable since it is on video.
Can't say it's been a good month or a bad month for the Williams family. Needless to say family
dinners have to be interesting.