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The first day back from the summer break saw very little news. Only NBC organized a traditional newscast--both ABC and CBS were in a reflective mood, offering surveys rather than headlines. CBS made the bigger splash, with anchor Katie Couric in Baghdad to kick off her weeklong tour America in Iraq: the Road Ahead. ABC took the end of the Labor Day weekend as an opportunity to survey the true beginning of the Campaign 2008 primary season. There was so little news to report that only a single story warranted attention from even two newscasts' reporters--that was NBC's lead, the disappearance of millionaire celebrity adventurer Steve Fossett. Fossett was not the Story of the Day, however; the Iraq War qualified for top spot, courtesy of CBS' series.

The news hook for the special focus on the Iraq War is the kickoff next week of the Congressional debate about the future of US troop deployments. That debate will start with the testimony of the military and diplomatic leaders in Baghdad, Gen David Petraeus and Amb Ryan Crocker. Not only did CBS' Couric included her questions to the general in her Road Ahead feature from Fallujah, ABC's Martha Raddatz also profiled Petraeus. Raddatz reminded us that if Petraeus' testimony turns out to be optimistic--he calls it his Kodak moment--it may say more about his demeanor than the facts on the ground: "He always manages to paint a hopeful picture," she observed, showing his cheery soundbites as a two-star general in 2004 and with three stars in 2005. Raddatz pointed out to Petraeus that a withdrawal of 30,000-or-so US troops is bound to begin soon, for reasons of logistics not strategy: "You calculations are about right," he agreed.

CBS filed a pair of Road Ahead reports on the war itself--Couric from al-Anbar and Lara Logan from Basra. Couric introduced us to Sheikh Saddoun al-Bouissa--"the powerful tribal leaders of al-Anbar Province are really the heads of large extended families"--who switched sides after 30 members of his clan were killed by his former allies in al-Qaeda. Now the tribal militias are being armed and trained by the US military instead as the sheikhs made "joining Iraqi security forces an honorable choice." Sheikh al-Bouissa told Couric that he wants US aid "until we finish al-Qaeda," not indefinitely. Couric did not preview what the politics of these Sunni sheikhs towards the Shiite-dominated government in Baghdad would then be.

CBS' Logan showed us British troops leave Basra Palace downtown to relocate to an airfield on the outskirts. "The British insist their withdrawal to a single base outside Basra is not a retreat," Logan reported skeptically. She argued that "Shiite militias, battling each other for power, dominate this wealthy province" and that their "relentless attacks have succeeded" in driving British patrols off the streets. Even Mohammed al-Waili, the Governor of Basra, told her that his own police force had been infiltrated by rival militias. Teheran, Logan added, is "playing a huge role in Basra. There is no question that Iran is backing all of the militias in the south."

Andrew Tyndall 9/14/07 3:07:58 pm

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