0004133373@mcimail.com (Donald E. Kimberlin) (01/22/91)
We had a post on here Sunday about how wire services had
reported that the "AT&T Building in Baghdad" had been bombed.
According to the following from AT&T's "Newsbriefs" for 21 January, it
seems the source this error was a military officer on the spot:
*******
ERROR -- The U.S. government and AT&T have been known to have
some pretty heated wars, but nothing like this. Air Force Col. Alton
Whitley, commander of the 37th Tactical Fighter Wing, told the media
Friday that the first air strike against Iraq was a 2,000-pound bomb
dropped squarely onto the "AT&T building" in downtown Baghdad.
Not so, says the telecommunications giant. "We don't even have a
building in Baghdad," spokesman James Van Orden said. {Dallas Times-
Herald}, D1, 1/20.
*******
So, it seems even ranking military officers are confused with
just how far AT&T's influence goes.