Iraq Orders Rather, CBS Crew Out of Country

NEW YORK —  CBS anchorman Dan Rather and eight CBS staffers, the last U.S. network crew still in Iraq covering Persian Gulf crisis developments there, were ordered out of Baghdad and left today, CBS said.

The CBS contingent, which includes correspondent Allen Pizzey, now are in Amman, Jordan. They had been in Baghdad since Wednesday, arriving a day after an ABC crew led by “Nightline” anchorman Ted Koppel.

Koppel left Baghdad on Thursday, and was followed several days later by his ABC colleagues.

Iraqi officials made no threats to Rather and his CBS crew in ordering them out and just said the journalists had “outstayed their welcome,” CBS spokeswoman Donna Dees said.

“We were told there was a plane out this morning, and we should be on it,” she said.

Despite Iraq’s action, officials at NBC News and Cable News Network said they would continue trying to get their reporters into Iraq.

NBC’s “Nightly News” anchor Tom Brokaw today returned to New York City from Saudi Arabia, where he had been anchoring the network’s coverage of the invasion.