Williams in Baghdad: New Pockets of Peace, Iraqis Don't Want to See Americans Go

NewsBusters ^ | Mark Finkelstein

[governsleastgovernsbest]

Talk about your inconvenient truth . . .

Reporting from Baghdad this morning, NBC Nightly News host Brian Williams let a cat out of the bag that could leave some serious scratch marks on MSM/DNC calls for stopping the surge and withdrawing US troops from Iraq. Williams said that US troops:

"are also aware, especially in the outposts, that it's the Iraqi people who are very reluctant to see the Americans go, because in many cases that's what's keeping the peace in town."

View video here.

Earlier, and even on a day in which he reported on nine American troops having been killed in two separate explosions, Williams also suggested that the security situation in Iraq is improving in some aspects:

"Six [US troops killed] in Salahuddin province and three in Diyala province. But note what we're not reporting this morning. We are not reporting another car bomb or suicide bomber, IED has gone off in central Baghdad or in Sadr City, the usual locations where the sad drumbeat of news on morning's like this one normally comes from. This conflict is changing . . . We have a conflict where the tempo may be changing and we have pockets of new peace, but it is still a very dangerous war."

Whoops! Will Williams' observations make it out of NBC, into the MSM at large and onto Capitol Hill?

Mark was in Iraq in November. Contact him at mark@gunhill.net

[governsleastgovernsbest]

Brian Williams cat-out-of-bag ping to Today show list.

[StoneWall Brigade]

Rush Limbaugh will have a field day with this

[NonValueAdded]

I heard a promo of his coverage yesterday and it ended with a soldier's plea to let him finish the job. I was stunned by the apparent abrupt change in editorial policy. Is NBC doing that bad in the ratings? Is it sweeps week or something? Or is victory at hand and the newsies know it and don't want to get caight on the wrong side? If so, it doesn't bode well for Pelosi and Murtha.

[Edgerunner]

Pandering to the truth?

[avacado]

Oh my! He's talking about peace and the troops being wanted by the Iraqis and possible victory. He's going to be snubbed at all the cocktail parties.

[AZFolks]

I wonder if Bill O'Reilly's relntless criticism of NBC may be having an effect?

[avacado]

Perhaps some Marines took him aside and told him that if he didn't start reporting some balanced news, and soon, that they would outfit him in an orange jumpsuit and toss out onto the roadside in Anbar Province.

[Bahbah]

"it's the Iraqi people who are very reluctant to see the Americans go, because in many cases that's what's keeping the peace in town."

Oh, my. Don't tell John Murtha or Carl Levin. They say exactly the opposite.

[Valin]

Brian is in soooo much trouble!

[CharlesWayneCT]

BUMP

[Gay State Conservative]

Never again will Williams be invited to cocktail parties on the Upper West Side,Cambridge,Madison or Malibu.And he'll never again get an "exclusive" interview of the RAT wunderkind-du-jour.

[Red6]

Interesting!

The guys screaming the loudest get the media attention, especially the more vile and radical stuff they shout. However, there are many Iraqi's that know once we leave their neighborhood will go down the drain. There are many Iraqi's that have made small fortunes off our presence.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Saw Brian doing this piece on NBC Nightly...
I thought his head was going to spin around.

[ardara]

Is not NBC doing a special on this Thursday giving a voice to experts who say man is not the major cause of climate change?

[Eric in the Ozarks]

A stopped clock...

[RottiBiz]

It has to be the ratings.

Last week O'Reilly reported that NBC had fallen to third place -- behind ABC and CBS.

[freeperfromnj]

It has to be the ratings.

That's exactly it. With the country split in half for quite some time now, it has been a stupid move on their part to turn off half of their potential viewers.

[ClaireSolt]

Ratings are our friends. The media follows. It does not lead. And, of course they stubbornly deny bias. I wonder how much longer Jane Hall will be crowing that algore was right about global woarming.

Let's just hope and pray that the enemy does not revive with some new awful strategy.

[Dilbert56]

Believe NBC just dumped their news VP. Maybe the replacement wants to improve ratings - not push the leftist agenda as much.