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There were two new developments in the Iraq story: diplomatic and military. ABC led with Jonathan Karl's coverage of Teheran's proposal for a tripartite Iran-Iraq-Syria summit. NBC led with Jim Miklaszewski's outline of the Pentagon's trio of military options: Go Big, Go Long, Go Home. CBS covered both angles, but led with neither, choosing Mark Strassmann on a school bus crash in Alabama instead.

CBS' David Martin was not convinced by Pentagon planning: he reckoned Go Big (massive reinforcements) and Go Home (quick withdrawal) were suggested as "straw men" rather than feasible options. That leaves Go Long, which as NBC's Miklaszewski previewed, may mean deployment of 60,000 troops in Iraq for five to ten years.

As for the diplomacy, ABC's Karl reported on the State Department perspective: the US accuses Iran and Syria of "being the problem not the solution." NBC's Richard Engel (at the end of the Miklaszewski package) took the regional angle: "The US has backed away, is not really engaged." And CBS' Katie Couric interviewed The New York Times' columnist Tom Friedman about the overview: "Iraq is so broken, it cannot even have a proper civil war."

Andrew Tyndall 11/21/06 8:26:47 pm

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