Daily Mirror hires fired journo Peter Arnett

'Fired by America for telling the truth,' said Daily Mirror in a front page headline, adding it had hired the 'legendary war reporter'.

A British tabloid newspaper said on Tuesday it had hired veteran reporter Peter Arnett, who was fired by American TV network NBC after he said the US-led war effort in Iraq had failed.

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"Fired by America for telling the truth," said the Daily Mirror in a front page headline, adding it had hired the "legendary war reporter" to carry on telling the truth.

"I am still in shock and awe at being fired," Arnett wrote for the newspaper, which is vehemently opposed to the war. "I report the truth of what is happening here in Baghdad and will not apologise for it."

NBC fired Arnett, who won a Pulitzer Prize reporting in Vietnam for The Associated Press, on March 31, angered that he had give an unauthorised interview with state-run Iraqi TV saying the American-led war effort initially failed because of Iraq's resistance.

The network said it got thousands of e-mails and phone calls protesting his remarks.