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The three newscasts were unanimous that the Black Forest fire, north of Colorado Springs, warranted the lead slot. The wildfire has killed two people and destroyed 400 homes: Miguel Almaguer filed on the fires for NBC for the third straight day, Clayton Sandell on ABC for the third straight day, and Barry Petersen on CBS for the second. Yet the choice for lead did not translate into Story of the Day. That was the decision by the White House to supply weapons to some opposition militias fighting in the civil war in Syria. NBC and ABC used substitute anchors, Natalie Morales and David Muir respectively.

Both NBC's Richard Engel and ABC's Alex Marquardt filed from the region, Marquardt along the Syrian border, Engel from Istanbul. Both relied on clips from YouTube and other outsourced video newsgathering to depict the mismatch on the battlefield. NBC's Engel saw government forces mounting a successful counteroffensive against the rebels, in alliance with the Revolutionary Guard from Iran, with Shiite militias from Iraq, and Hezbollah forces from Lebanon. The Battle of Aleppo is next.

From the Pentagon, CBS' David Martin reported that the Central Intelligence Agency will be in charge of delivering ammunition and weaponry to the opposition militias, forces that are already receiving food, medical supplies and vehicles from the United States. As for the conventional military, Martin pointed to the Pentagon's F-15 fighter jets and missile batteries, which are located in Jordan, next door. Martha Raddatz, ABC's national security correspondent, (at the tail of the Marquardt videostream) reassured us that the United States would not deploy any soldiers in Syria.

Will the CIA's weapons fall into of the hands of Islamist militias, the ones that the United States does not support? "Guaranteed," exclaimed CBS' Elizabeth Palmer, from London.
Andrew Tyndall 6/17/13 9:48:38 pm

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