CBS Newser Apologizes For 'Civilized War' Comment

NY Post graphic 2/27/22

A senior foreign correspondent at CBS News apologized Saturday after he said on air that the war in Ukraine can’t be compared to those in Iraq and Afghanistan — because the Eastern European nation is more “civilized.”

According to The NY Post, Correspondent Charlie D’Agata was reporting from Kyiv, Ukraine when he said Friday that Ukraine “isn’t a place, with all due respect, like Iraq or Afghanistan, that has seen conflict raging for decades.

“This is a relatively civilized, relatively European — I have to choose those words carefully, too — city, where you wouldn’t expect that or hope that it’s going to happen,” he continued.

D’Agata issued an apology on the broadcaster’s streaming network Saturday, after his comments went viral — racking up more than 1.5 million views on Twitter — and were swiftly condemned as racist and historically inaccurate.

“I spoke in a way I regret, and for that I’m sorry,” he said, adding that he was trying to convey that Ukraine hasn’t seen “this scale of war” in recent years, unlike other countries.

“Civilized”
pic.twitter.com/AiU7uVmjMr

— Imraan Siddiqi (@imraansiddiqi) February 26, 2022

People on the internet were quick to point out that Iraq has long been called the “cradle of civilization” because ancient Mesopotamia — now Iraq — is where “civilization” as the West largely understands it emerged. And Ukraine, of course, is no stranger to war and conflict, with the Russian annexation of Crimea happening less than a decade ago.

Cornell professor Dr. Mostafa Minawi asked on Twitter why D’Agata thought it was permissible “to compare the value of peoples’ lives and who qualifies as ‘civilized.'” 

“CBS News dropped the dog whistle for straight racism today,” Chicago Sun-Times reporter Nader Issa tweeted. “If that’s the version where he chooses his words carefully, was the alternative just going to be “these are civilized white people and not uncivilized brown people”