Charles Jaco Threatens Blogosphere Over CNN Video?

There are just some things too funny to make up.

Mr. Thin Skin, a man who has smeared me and my St. Louis Tea Party co-organizer Bill Hennessy more times than I can count by suggesting that we and others are any number of pejoratives simply because he disagrees with us politically, is apparently, suddenly sensitive. He is allegedly threatening to take legal actions against people who question the validity of his now-famous Iraq war video for CNN.

The old video shows him in a sand turtle and talking about the Iraq war made the rounds from Youtube; I pointed it out back in April; Bill has made mention of it as well; Jamie Allman made a joke about it (it was him who found it), and even Pat Buchanan wrote about it:

Charles Jaco was the CNN reporter famous for covering the 1990 Persian Gulf War. The first part of this video shows the stage set he was on, and he was clowning around with fellow CNN staff. The Saudi Arabian “hotel” in the background were fake palm trees and a blue wall in a studio. This clip was leaked by CNN staff.

This video is FAIR USE depicting an historical event. I encourage this video to be downloaded, and re-uploaded to other websites to get more people to see this.

Here’s the video in question:

I had no clue who Jaco was until I heard that he was saying awful things about tea party organizers. Now I’m told that he’s sent off a letter to a local blogger and threatening legal action:

I have just now come across a false and defamatory posting on your website from July 28, 2009 titled “Did Charles Jaco Fake a Desert Storm CNN Report”. I’m adding your email and your website to the list being sent to my attorneys.
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Some of you have written me expressing concern (or as one friend put it “WTF?”) about a video making the rounds purporting to show that our Gulf War coverage for CNN in 1991 was done in a studio, not in Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Kuwait. This email should fill you in as to what’s going on.

Others have written me to accuse me of engaging in false news coverage, and a cover-up of the truth. Many of those same people have forwarded those false and defamatory emails to others, and have linked to a website purporting to show the false coverage. This email serves as notice of legal action.

First the facts of the case: our coverage was on the roof of a hotel and military facility near the intersection of the two main runways at the Dhahran Air Base, Western Province, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The playwood background was erected as a guard against sand and wind storms. The clowning around on the video is just that. We used black humor to deflect the tension of covering SCUD missile assaults.

Now to the impending action: my attorneys intend to act immediately against those of you receiving this who have sent and forwarded these emails accusing me of falsifying coverage. We are in the process of issuing subpeonas to ISPs for the real names and addresses of the senders. We shall then proceed with lawsuits against those parties.

In addition, letters are being sent to LiveLink and Google (owner of YouTube) and their attorneys demanding the videos be removed.
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Charles Jaco

(h/t Jimi)

Wow, in addition to being thin-skinned, Jaco apparently has no clue about protected speech and fair use. We have Climategate going on and a deficit on the run but Jaco would rather waste money making a mockery of himself across the Internet. It does make for interesting speculation as to whose cases would be more successful: the men and women activists who were smeared by Jaco or a reporter known for smearing people on air who ironically takes liberty with others asking questions or making observations about a video in which he’s admitted to participating.

Mike Anderson doesn’t mince words:

That video is such garbage.  It’s like a kids’ show, made-up BS.  Monty Python-esque. Yes, it was staged, of course it was.  And that’s a confirmation from a been-there-done-that American war veteran who, on that very day, had family members at peril for their lives from rocket attacks on their homes in Israel, who were actuallywearing gas masks and sealing off portions of their homes to create safe environments.

I guess Jaco will have to add Anderson and Buchanan to his list as well.

Keyboard Militia writes on it as well.