Description

Peter Arnett Book (Iraq):

This book, “Live from the Battlefield”, was written by Peter Arnett and was about his career, especially his Gulf War experience. The cover is a screen grab from a standup I did with him during our coverage in Baghdad in 1991. I bought a copy of the book after the war. During the war in Bosnia, on my way to Sarajevo, I was assigned to work with Peter when the U.S. decided to intervene with American troops. I brought my copy of the book with me so he could sign it. At the airport, in Split, Croatia, we were put in a queue of journalists waiting for a U.N.flight to go in. While we waited, I asked him to sign my book. He started to sign “to Dave Rust, pal, consummate professional…” and that’s as far as he got. Peter was paged by U.N. officials to come to the departure counter. Because of his celebrity, the officials suddenly invited him to the front of the line (without the rest of the crew). Peter handed the book and pen back to me. He got on the aircraft, and that’s the last I saw of him, until I made a much later flight to Sarajevo myself. The book is still only half-signed!