General Electric is a subcontractor for the Tomahawk cruise missile and Patriot II missile, both of which were used extensively during the Persian Gulf War. General Electric also manufactures components for the B-2 stealth bomber and B-52 bomber and the E-3 AWACS aircraft which were also used extensively during the conflict. During the first Gulf War, General Electric received $2 billion in defense contracts related to weapons which would be used in Gulf War and the 2003 invasion and subsequent occupation of Iraq by Coalition Forces. As FAIR observed, "when correspondents and paid consultants on NBC television praised the performance of U.S. weapons, they were extolling equipment made by GE, the corporation that pays their salaries." Directly echoing official talking points, many media officials referred to civilian casualties as "collateral damage", and like many military officials tried to avoid talking about the existence of civilian casualties altogether. Media sources also completely omitted major events. NBC failed to mention 2000 bombing runs in Iraq in one night during the war, going as far to say that "it's a quiet night in the middle east". Hodding Carter III said that the American government should be "paying for the press coverage it was getting right now". Chris Hedges, an American journalist who reported on the Gulf War for "The New York Times", remarked that media was "as eager to be of service to the state during the war as most everyone else".