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CBS Reporter Under Scrutiny for Iraq Booty

US Customs looks into Logan's swiped Hussein portraits

By Elizabeth Wolff, Newser User

Posted Oct 3, 2008 11:55 AM CDT

(Newser) – CBS chief correspondent and tabloid catnip Lara Logan has two portraits of Saddam Hussein in her office, and US Customs wants to know why. The art was recovered from the wreckage of a Baghdad palace, and it's illegal to take such items out of Iraq. Customs prosecuted a Fox News employee for similar actions, reports the New York Post.

The trade publication Broadcasting & Cable did an online profile of Logan, whose personal life has recently made as many headlines as her professional exploits, capturing the taboo booty in the process. The reporter says the portraits depict Saddam in military duds and interacting with children. A CBS rep responded: "Sorry, but this one's not worthy of a comment."

[Images (3)]

[Quotes (2)]

Journalist Lara Logan accepts her Woman of the Year award at the 18th Annual Glamour Women of the Year awards at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall Monday, Nov. 5, 2007 in New York. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow)

CBS journalist Lara Logan arrives at the 33rd Annual American Women in Radio & Television's Gracie Allen Awards in New York. (AP Photo)

Correspondent Lara Logan poses for photographers after winning an Emmy at the 28th Annual News and Documentary Emmy Awards gala Monday Sept. 24, 2007 in New York. (AP Photo/Tina Fineberg)

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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
- Marisa Guthrie, Broadcasting & Cable

Why is it OK for Lara Logan to be displaying...items framed on her office walls at CBS News and have public media stories done about them without any US Customs people paying attention?
- ERSnews.com, media Web site

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CBS Reporter Under Scrutiny for Iraq Booty