 |
         
|
NBC groped for the puniest of news hooks for Andrea Mitchell's report on Rove's book. George Bush's political architect is launching his book tour just as elections are being held in Iraq. So Mitchell focused on Rove's explanation for his White House's case for war in the build-up to the 2003 invasion. Mitchell came so close to accusing Bush and Rove of fabricating a case for war but then stepped back. She quoted Rove as writing that without a threat from Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, "Congress was very unlikely to have supported the use-of-force resolution." Yet those WMDs did not exist. "So then did Bush lie us into war?" She quotes Rove: "Absolutely not."
Mitchell offered no further explanation from Rove's own words. So that bald denial just lay there. What was left was tease. Rove, we were told, has been booked for a three-part interview on NBC's Today.
As frustrating as that tease was, at least all three newscasts now have a correspondent in Iraq ahead of the weekend's elections. CBS had Elizabeth Palmer file on Wednesday. Now Miguel Marquez files from Baghdad for ABC. "An incredible place to see," he exclaimed, delighting at the now-bustling Shorja Market. NBC's Richard Engel was embedded with the USArmy's First Armored Division in Nasiriyah yet had little to show for it: "Troops are mostly confined to their bases. They rarely leave without Iraqi permission. It is a training mission now."
You must be logged in to this website to leave a comment. Please click here to log in so you can participate in the discussion.
