Anderson
and Michael recorded some short discussions in the
Green Zone this week -- the first one airs after a
replay of Michael's trip to Anbar
that
aired Monday. The second is a more general
discussion of the current situation. I think this
is a great summation:
America can leave
tomorrow, as long as it's ready to pay the price. And
let's not forget: everyone wants the American sons
and daughters to go home. But this is the dilemma
facing liberal America: you can do that, but you're
going to have such death and misery on your
conscience.
There is a moral imperative here. America chose to
invade. America created this environment that's not
just hurting the Iraqis but it's hurting American
interests. It's fuelling al Qaeda and fuelling Iran.
You can walk away from that, but it's not without
price.
Length:
1:12 / 4:27
Michael, David Gergen,
Candy Crowley, and Gloria Borger all talk to Anderson
following the president's speech. "Wow" is a place to
start...
The second clip is the piece about
the
volunteers who bury the unclaimed dead Iraqi
civilians.
Length: 13:00 / 4:44
In the first clip,
Michael speaks with Suzanne Malveaux about the
implications of the Sunni sheik's death. In the
second clip, Wolf talks to him about that, and also
plays some old clips from Michael's earlier reports
about what will happen in Iraq, and in the third clip
Wolf asks him for some reaction to the preliminary
copy of the speech.
Length: 5:24 / 5:12 / 3:05
Michael talks to Jim and
Hala about the assassination overnight of the sheik
who had become the public "face" of the Anbar
movement against al Qaeda.
Length: 5:40
Anderson has finally made it to the bureau and joins
Michael on the rooftop. They discuss Michael's
exclusive interview with the Iranian ambassador to
Iraq (with a couple new clips from it.)
Length: 3:48
Michael speaks with Kitty Pilgrim and recaps his
interview with the Iranian ambassador to Iraq.
Length: 5:37
Michael gets yet another
very impressive exclusive -- an interview with the
Iranian ambassador to Iraq. Who, naturally, denies
everything and throws the ball back into our court...
Length: 5:22
Anderson speaks with
Michael and with John King (in DC) about today's
testimony regarding the surge.
(This clip ends with odd abruptness. I did cut the
prepared piece from John King, but Anderson never
went back to Michael after it ended. Very strange.)
Length: 7:08
This is one of those
straight-talk times: yes, democracy in Iraq is
attainable, but it will take generations to achieve.
Length: 3:10
Day one of AC360 in Iraq
brings us two segments: first is a discussion among
Anderson, Michael, and Michael Gordon about today's
testimony from General Petraeus and Ambassador
Crocker.
The second clip is from the trip to Anbar he
mentioned
last weekend, and it's one of the
more anxiety-inducing ones he's ever done. Yes, it's
a trip he couldn't have made at all four months ago,
as he makes clear, but it's still scary as hell to
watch, even knowing that he's "safe" on his rooftop
by the time we see this. Still, the piece is
incredibly important in that it gives us an insight
into the thinking of the Sunni militias we are
training -- it is clear that as soon as they've run
al Qaeda out of their back yards, they are going to
come after American troops again.
Length: 6:18 / 7:06
Larry speaks with
Michael, Anderson Cooper, and radio talk-show hosts
Lars Larson and Ed Schultz about the Petraeus/Crocker
testimony. The only surprise so far is that some
people are surprised by the "Hey, look over there at
al-Anbar!" shell game. I mean, hooray for the
improvements in Anbar, but that has nothing to do
with the surge, so stop trying to muddy the waters.
Anyway, the highlight for me was this observation by
Michael right at the very end:
And I think the
emphasis on the Sunni militia program runs much
deeper than Al Qaeda. These Sunnis out there, these
Baathists, the men who used to run Saddam's military,
first and foremost, they're anti-Iranian. And I think
that that is very much a part of what the U.S.
strategy is doing here.
They're shifting their weight politically to
throw some support behind these anti-Iranian elements
so that they can put pressure on the pro-Iranian
government in Baghdad.
The problem with
democracy is that sometimes the wrong side wins.
Ain't THAT a bitch. "The wars within the
war continue..."
Length: 8:47
Michael talks to Wolf
about General Petraeus' testimony before Congress.
Length: 4:25
Editor's note: This is part of a series of
reports CNN.com is
featuring from
an Anderson Cooper special this week, "Live from
Iraq," which airs at 10 p.m. ET.
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Sheik Jamal al-Sudani leads a
group of volunteers with one of the most solemn tasks
in Iraq: Collecting and burying the hundreds of
unclaimed dead every month and giving them a proper
burial.
Jamie McIntyre gives a
rundown of the surge goals, then he, Michael, and
Rajiv Chandrasekaran discuss (what else this week?)
the likely findings of General Petraeus' report.
(Gotta love Jamie's characterization of "weasel
talk"...)
Length: 10:05
Anderson asks Michael
about what's happening in al-Anbar, the president's
surprise visit, and the nearly completed British
withdrawal from Iraq.
Length: 3:10
Wolf talks to Michael about President Bush's surprise
visit to al-Anbar today and what's going on in that
province.
Length: 4:02
Two reports on American
Morning from Michael -- during the first hour, he
discusses the Brit drawdown from their final base in
Basra, as they pull back to the airport in
preparation for a final withdrawal. During the third
hour, reaction to the breaking news story of
President Bush's surprise arrival in Iraq this
morning (and another summation of the Basra story.)
Length: 2:33 / 5:40
Michael does a prepared
piece about British forces in Basra pulling back to
their final outpost near the airport, in preparation
for their complete withdrawal from Iraq.
Length: 2:07
Wolf's discussion panel
today features Michael, NYT writer Michael Gordon,
and Laith Kubba (identified as a "former Iraqi
government spokesman.") They talk about the
benchmarks, Iran's influence, etc.
(Near the end of the piece, Michael mentions that he
has just come back from spending some time with the
Sunnis in al-Anbar -- the former insurgents who are
now our allies, that is. Since he was last on-air on
Thursday, I think it was a short visit, and suspect
he really did "just" return; at any rate, he looks
and sounds bone-tired.)
Length: 12:20