Originally Posted by cmac2012

B.G. Burkett's POV/testimony has about as much credence as John O'Neill's or Sgt. Barry Sadler's.

This is Peragro in motion: find some ax-grinding crank who gets a posting on Wiki, and then hold it up as proof positive.

OK, let's say, FTSOD, that Arnett did make it up. Was it far away from the truth? I say it wasn't.

Originally Posted by http://johnibii.wordpress.com/category/peter-arnett/

Braestrup was the first to identify Peter Arnett as a serial prevaricator. Arnett was the source of the story that became emblematic of the entire offensive: that the Viet Cong had shot their way into the U.S. Saigon embassy and held it overnight. In truth, the VC sappers who penetrated embassy grounds were quickly dispatched before entering any buildings, a fact that went unmentioned by Arnett and many later histories of the war. Shortly afterward Arnett reported a quote from an American major concerning operations in the town of Ben Tre:
‘We had to destroy the town in order to save it.’
Nobody, not Arnett, not the reporters who accompanied him, not his employers at the AP, were ever able to produce this ‘major,’ which didn’t prevent the line from becoming the leading catchphrase of the antiwar movement. (Braestrup’s research uncovered the fact that the phrase was already in the air — almost identical words were used by the Times’ James Reston in an editorial appearing the same day as Arnett’s report.)