CNN restricted an on-air discussion about a new book dealing with the Iraq war because peace activist Cindy Sheehan threatened to sue over provocative claims about her in the book, one of its co-authors claims.

“American Mourning” examines how the death of two U.S. soldiers in Iraq affected their families. One of the two is the Sheehan family.

Co-author Melanie Morgan told Cybercast News Service she was slated to appear on CNN’s Headline News’ “Glenn Beck” program last week and that a producer told her it would be a short segment, focusing on passing claims in the book regarding Sheehan’s personal life.

Morgan said she replied: “OK, fine, whatever,” and continued on the promotional tour for the book, which deals with the families of Casey Sheehan of Vacaville, Calif., and Justin Johnson of Rome, Ga., friends who were killed within five days of each other in separate ambushes in Sadr City, Iraq, during April 2004.

While en route to CNN studios to tape the interview, however, Morgan received another call from the producer telling her that the segment would now deal with “everything but the sex issues.”

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Melanie Morgan gained national notoriety in the summer of 2006 when she suggested that Bill Keller, an editor of the New York Times, be killed in a “gaschamber” for the crime of “treason” after the Times’ reporting on US government spying on Americans…for which she earned an Olbermann Worst Person.