News Producer, Author George Crile Passes
Challenged U.S. Military in Vietnam
New York, NY – George Crile III, 61, a journalist, author and CBS News producer who presciently chronicled the threat of Al-Qaeda in the period leading up to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and challenged the U.S. military’s honesty during the Vietnam War, died May 14 at his New York City home. The cause of death was pancreatic cancer.
Crile was perhaps best known for the 1982 documentary The Uncounted Enemy: A Vietnam Deception, which he produced with Mike Wallace. The controversial production alleged that Gen. William C. Westmoreland, the former U.S. commander of forces in Vietnam, was part of a conspiracy to intentionally downplay the size of enemy troops in an effort to deceive Congress and the White House into believing that the United States was winning the war.
In response, Westmoreland sued CBS for libel and sought $120 million in damages. After a lengthy investigation and legal action during which Crile testified in federal court, Westmoreland withdrew the suit before the case went to the jury. The settlement involved a joint statement with the network with acknowledgment that Westmoreland had not been “unpatriotic or disloyal in performing his duties as he saw them.”
More recently, Crile garnered praise for the 2003 bestseller Charlie Wilson’s War: The Extraordinary Story of the Largest Covert Operation in History, which was based on reporting he initiated in the late 1980s, when he met Charlie Wilson, a Texas Congressman who was helping a C.I.A. official provide Afghan rebels with guns to fight the Soviets. Crile’s book is now being developed as a movie starring Tom Hanks, who bought the rights, and directed by Mike Nichols.
Crile’s early exposure to Middle Eastern unrest led to further reporting over the years, and in early 20001 he traveled throughout Pakistan and Afghanistan with a portable video camera, an experience that provided an early window into the danger posed by Osama bin Laden and his fellow Islamist extremists.
George Washington Crile III was born and reared in Cleveland, Ohio, where his grandfather and father were both renowned doctors. Eschewing the family professional, Crile embarked on a journalism career after graduating from Trinity College. He also studied at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center in Monterey, Calif.
His first newspaper job was with the Gary Post-Tribune in Gary, Indiana. He was also Washington editor for Harper’s Magazine and wrote for The Washington Post, The New York Times and other publications.
In 1976, Crile began working at CBS News, where he produced several documentaries, including the 1978 production The Battle for South Africa, which won a George Foster Peabody Award.
He moved to 60 Minutes in 1985, and continued to produce documentaries on turmoil in international politics. At the time of his death, he was working on a sequel to Charlie Wilson's War.
Crile, whose first marriage, to Anne Patten Crile, ended in divorce, is survived by his second wife, Susan Lyne, former president of ABC Entertainment and now president and chief executive of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia; two daughters from his first marriage; two daughters from his second marriage; and two sisters.
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