CBS correspondent Lara Logan, who spent several years covering the Iraq War, has previously been a news subject herself as a result of her extracurricular activities.
Logan had an affair with "a married federal contractor whom she met while stationed in Iraq," and became pregnant as a result. At the time of the linked Associated Press story, the father was "in the midst of a divorce from wife Kimberly, with whom he has a 3-year-old daughter." Early this year, the New York Post reported that Logan "apparently courted two beaus while she was in Baghdad, and has been labeled a homewrecker ...."
Now it appears that Ms. Logan may have left Iraq with questionable "souvenirs," according to the Post's Page Six (the Post obtained its core information from this ERSnews.com story; bold after title is mine):
US Eye on Logan's Iraq Loot
CBS news hottie Lara Logan could be in hot water for swiping souvenirs from the wreckage of bombed-out Baghdad.
In a video profile of the "60 Minutes" star called "Lara Logan's Spoils of War," mementos from Iraq and Afghanistan are shown in her Washington office.
"The prize pieces are . . . pre-Iraq invasion portraits of Saddam Hussein. In one [he's] shown in military fatigues. Logan told us she found it in pieces, in the ruins of the Olympic committee building after it was bombed," reports Marisa Guthrie of Broadcasting & Cable, the media industry publication that produced the online piece.
"A second portrait recovered from the ruins of a shelled palace in Baghdad shows a paternal Saddam surrounded by a group of adoring children, Hovering above the scene is the disembodied head of a stern-looking elderly woman . . . which Logan says is Saddam's mother."
Taking such items out of the country is considered theft under a federal provision designed to protect Iraqi heritage. One former Fox News engineer has already been prosecuted and placed on probation for smuggling paintings from Iraqi palaces. Other journos have been warned.
..... A rep for the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement told us the agency was looking into it. Logan refused to speak with us. A CBS News flack sniffed, "Sorry, but this one's not worthy of a comment."
At some point, what CBS should really be asking is whether Logan is worthy of continued employment.
In light of the above, it's not unfair to ask how much of the "looting" that took place after Baghdad was committed by the very people who were reporting it.
Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.
