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NBC had planned to lead with Iraq. For the third straight day, a network unveiled opinion poll numbers. For the third straight day, the findings were dismal for President George Bush. Russert (at the tail of the videostream) described his political condition, quoting the Iraq Study Group, as "grave--and deteriorating." Public approval for the war in Iraq has fallen to 23%, a decline from 34% "in just one month."
The President, meanwhile, was at the Pentagon where he continued his attempt to rollback the momentum from that ISG report. "I am not going to be rushed," he insisted.
ABC's Martha Raddatz listed Bush's "complicated, conflicting advice:" the National Security Council--send 40,000 more troops; the Joint Chiefs of Staff--send no more troops; the Iraq Study Group--send more trainers, pull out combat troops; the Shiite-led Iraq government--give it control over Baghdad; the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia--the "chilling warning" that it may back the Sunni insurgency if Shiites gain more power.
NBC's Jim Miklaszewski reported that the US military cannot decide who its main adversary is: the Sunni insurgency or the Shiite militias. The Penatagon is developing a so-called Do-or-Die option, he reported, whereby the Iraqi Army, with embedded US military advisors, fights the Mahdi Army in Baghdad while the USArmy withdraws to al-Anbar province to fight the insurgency plus al-Qaeda cells.
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