NIGHTLINE: What Did We Miss? (Warning: ABC Anti-Bush Hit Piece Tonight, Tuesday May 27)

ABCNEWS | May 27, 2003 | Leroy Sievers

[Timesink]

Date: Tue May 27, 2003 3:05:51 PM America/New_York

Subject: NIGHTLINE: What Did We Miss?

TONIGHT'S SUBJECT: Four separate attacks in Iraq yesterday, two soldiers killed and nine wounded today. It looks like the security situation keeps deteriorating. Should we have been better prepared? Did we misjudge the situation, or did we just get some things wrong? Actually there's a tougher question there, was some intelligence ignored or shaped to support a particular point of view?

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Things aren't working out exactly according to plan. Post-war Iraq is proving to be a much tougher problem in many ways. It certainly appears that there is some sort of organized resistance starting to take shape. Are we going to see one or two American soldiers killed each day? How long will we allow that to go on? More to the point, what can we do to stop it? Whatever happened to the idea that the Iraqi people would welcome American troops as liberators? Where are the weapons of mass destruction? What about ties between Iraq and terrorists?

Intelligence is not an exact science. People can get things wrong, for a variety of reasons. War quickly turns to chaos. Things change. But it appears that we got a lot of things wrong this time. Why? And what are the long-term implications? There is a more disturbing issue here. Was the intelligence, or at least the analysis of it, shaped by political concerns? Did the analysts come up with the intelligence that their political bosses wanted to hear? That's the issue that we're going to look at tonight. Very few people are shedding tears for Saddam Hussein. The evidence found after the war shows that he was probably more brutal than anyone thought. But that wasn't the reason given for going to war. Nightline correspondent Dave Marash will look at the intelligence conclusions reached before the war, and what we know about all of that now that at least a little of the dust has settled.

We'll also have a report from correspondent David Wright in Baghdad. He found a young American woman who, with a little support from some members of Congess, is literally going door to door to try to figure out how many Iraqi civilians were killed in the war. Right now, no one really knows. So we'll introduce you to this remarkable woman tonight. Ted will anchor, and we're still working out who his guests will be.

And one final note about last night's Memorial Day broadcast. Actually, this is sort of an apology. We set out to interview veterans from past wars as well as newly-minted veterans from the Iraq war about their thoughts on Memorial Day. We did find veterans from World War II and Vietnam. Our team of producers was trying to locate veterans from the Korean War as well. But for a variety of reasons, some logistical, some timing, we ended up with too many good interviews as it was, but we did not have any veterans from Korea in the broadcast. For all of you who wrote in saying that we contributed to the view of that war as the "Forgotten War," I want to assure you that no slight was intended, nor do we take the sacrifices from that conflict for granted.

Tuesday, May 27, 2003

Leroy Sievers and the Nightline Staff
Nightline Offices
Washington, D.C.

[Timesink]

You have been warned.

[hnorris]

Does anyone watch Nightline any more?

[ChadGore]

Re:But it appears that we got a lot of things wrong this time.

What part of complete and total victory don't they get ?

[Izzy Dunne]

Don't look now.

[Izzy Dunne]

But here it comes.

[Mister Baredog]

Four separate attacks in Iraq yesterday, two soldiers killed and nine wounded today. It looks like the security situation keeps deteriorating. Should we have been better prepared

Geez it almost sounds as bad as LOS ANGELES.

[Izzy Dunne]

Yes, folks, it's here!

[freedomlover]

The last Nightline I watched was the hit piece on Reagan they did right after he left office.

They said the only reason Ronnie was popular was because he got pity when he got shot.

[Izzy Dunne]

It's a

QUAGMIRE!

[ken5050]

The only folks who watch Nightline are those who take the NY Times seriously....it's like "preaching to the choir"..except none of them believes in a God

[Hildy]

In a country that large and diverse, frankly I'm surprised there hasn't been more violence. I think we're doing a great job.

[grimalkin]

I think I was 12 the last time I even paid attention. Even then, it was for about 5 seconds.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

Yep. One of the most successful military campaigns in history, and all the lib press can do is pick at every little thing that isn't perfect. All they can do is whine about everything. No wonder they can never have a successful talk radio show. They have no message beyond, "Elect us because the other side is mean and awful."

[WarrenGamaliel]

"It's a

QUAGMIRE!"

Maybe not, but it could be a large scale Beirut. I don't assume that any questions raised, even on ABC News and Nightline are simply a hit piece.

[mr.pink]

Maybe not, but it could be a large scale Beirut.

I agree.

Some are arguing that our forces still there are too small in number and that we should be enlisting help for policing.

NATO, or even the U.N. would be fine by me to help stabilize the situation.

[GOPJ]

Years ago, every night. Now, not ever.

Does anyone watch Nightline any more?

[GOPJ]

Years ago, every night. Now, not ever.

Does anyone watch Nightline any more?

[TC Rider]

If every Freeper watched, we could double Ted's ratings.

[RAT Patrol]

Does anyone watch Nightline any more?

I unfortunately caught last Tuesday's nightline starring Warren Buffett. I guess they don't even pretend to tell both sides anymore.

[Williams]

Wow! This Nightline "report" is practically an Anti-American checklist. I'm surprised in the first paragraph they didn't start yelling "Auntie Em! Auntie Em! A Twister!!" I notice strawmen are very big with the liberals these days. Who ever said post war Iraq would be "easy?" Who ever said there would not be hazards?

And going door to door to count civilian casualties. Very helpful. While they're at it, ask how many were living under a murderous, psychotic dictatorship before we got there.