Nov 2006

AC: Iraq -- The Endgame



Anderson is in Amman, Jordan... and so is Michael! An unexpected appearance on a new rooftop (possibly an indication that Mick will be out of Iraq for a few weeks) as he joins Anderson in an hour-long discussion of the various options being kicked around for a way out of the (say it with me) civil war in Iraq.

Length: 9:30

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LDT: Iranian weapons in Baghdad



Mick shows the tail fin of a mortar round, built this year in Iran and fired last week from a Shia neighborhood in Baghdad into a Sunni one.

Length: 4:40

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PZN: "...an organization built for regeneration."



Michael speaks to Paula about the, you know, not-civil war.

Length: 3:22

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TSR: "Tehran will be looking to press its advantage."



Michael talks to Wolf about the players in the region and who's benefiting most from the current mess.

Length: 5:06

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NR: "...a clear statement they're not willing to make."



Michael makes a brief appearance talking to Don Lemon regarding why the military still avoids using the term "civil war."

Length: 1:11

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AC: ...and Iran says opportunity is knocking.



Anderson has Reza Aslan with him in Turkey and Michael on the video link from Baghdad. They're talking about Iran's involvement in Iraq and why it's bad news for us.

Length: 4:15

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PZN: You say potato, I say civil war...



John Roberts talks to Michael as well as Jamie MacIntire on the whole semantics vs reality thing.

Length: 6:29

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LDT: Is there really an Iraqi government?



Lou asks Michael about the stability of the Maliki government.

Length: 1:42

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TSR: "The sound of machine-gun fire"



Michael keeps trying to convince CNN that it's a civil war. (So why was NBC the first network to get it?)

Length: 4:13

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NR: It's a damn civil war, people.



Mick is still trying to convince people it's a civil war. What part of this slaughter are we not understanding?

Length: 3:58 / 2:25

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TWAW: Another step closer to the brink



John Roberts speaks with Michael (in Baghdad), "Spider" Marks (in DC) and Rajiv Chandrasekaran (in LA) about the explosive events of the past few days. The discussion looks to have been filmed yesterday evening, Baghdad time.
 
(I just started reading Chandrasekaran's book yesterday. Another excellent addition to the Iraq bookshelf.)

Length: 6:39

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LDT: "...just turning that screw."



Mick talks to Kitty Pilgrim about Muqtada al-Sadr's win-win plan.

Length: 4:31

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TSR: "...just another day in Baghdad."



Michael talks to John King about the possible goals of al-Sadr's threat and the spiraling violence.

Length: 4:25

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NR: "Imagine Manhattan with two different districts shelling and bombing each other"



Michael discusses the events of the last two days.

Length: 3:32 / 2:16 / 2:24

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AAM: Muqtada al-Sadr's threat



Michael speaks with Soledad O'Brien about Muqtada al-Sadr's threat-by-proxy to collapse the Iraqi government if Prime Minister Maliki meets with President Bush next week.

Length: 4:24

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NR: Baghdad curfew "has locked the city down."



A final report of the Thanksgiving Day attacks in Sadr City, as Baghdad goes under curfew.

Length: 2:28

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YWT: "...a vicious blowback to a terrible strike..."



Michael continues to report on the attacks in and around Sadr City.

Length: 3:21

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NR: All hell breaks loose in Baghdad



Violence explodes in Sadr City after American forces enter the area in search of the missing soldier. In the hours that followed that raid, nearby Sunni neighborhoods apparently took an opportunity to attack. Carbombs, mortars, small-arms fire... But there's no civil war here, folks.

Length: 2:52 / 2:51 / 3:36

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AC: Putting a face on the civilian victims



Michael does a heartbreaking report on the civilian casualties of the civil war -- a family searching for a missing son amid the thousands of dead, wounded, and arrested in Baghdad.

Length: 5:03

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LDT: "...it seems nothing is able to control this violence."



Mick recaps the UN report and upcoming summit for Kitty Pilgrim.

Length: 2:12

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TSR: "a sign of how urgently people need things to change here."



Michael talks to John King about the upcoming meeting between Bush and Maliki.

Length: 2:38

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YWT: "...the violence will gather its own momentum."



Michael talks with Stephen Frazier about a new UN report on the number of civilian Iraqi deaths.

Length: 2:57

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AC: "So much blood has been spilled here..."



John Roberts speaks to Michael about the Iran/Syria influence in Iraq, and in the second hour, they are joined by Aneesh Raman (in Tehran) for more discussion on Iran's role in the violence.

Length: 2:40 / 4:36

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PZN: "...very little to be gained by either side."



Paula Zahn asks Michael about the current round of negotiations supposedly aimed at working towards political solutions.

Length: 2:35

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TSR: "It's much more than a concern."



Michael talks to John King about the assassination in Lebanon and the repercussions it might have in Iraq.

Length: 3:23

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AC: "The U.S. is not achieving victory right now."



Michael talks to John Roberts about the current climate in Iraq, as Henry Kissinger states we cannot win a military-only victory, and as the politics of the region are tipping away from us.

Length: 3:35

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TSR: "America needs to make a reassessment."



Michael talks to John King about Iraqi President Talabani's trip to Iran and the strengthening of Iranian influence in Iraq.

Length: 3:25

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AC: Who took them and why?



Michael and Anderson discuss the reported abduction of four American contractors.

Length: 3:58

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PZN: More on the missing contractors



Michael updates the information on the abducted American contractors.

Length: 4:15

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TSR: Arrest warrant issued; Americans abducted



Breaking news, first about a potentially explosive warrant issued by the Shia government for the arrest of a major Sunni cleric, and then of the abduction of four American contractors.

Length: 3:58 / 7:07 / 3:21

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LDT: Are Iraqi forces up to the task?



Michael responds to a two-part question from Lou involving the Iraqi forces in whom we have invested so much.

Length: 2:48

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TSR: Timetables, violence, and abductions



Michael and Wolf discuss the current events in Baghdad and Iraq.
 
(Note: Wolf played the same clip on both shows; I am archiving the second one only.)

Length: 3:06

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AC: "...some kind of inside operation"



Michael talks to John King about the kidnapping.

Length: 6:26

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PZN: "...a very illustrative kind of event."



According to Iraqi government officials, most of the abductees have been released.

Length: 2:51

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TSR: "An absolutely remarkable affair"



Michael talks to Wolf about how the events of the morning reflect on Prime Minister Maliki's control (or lack thereof) of the situation in Iraq.

Length: 2:51

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LDT: Recap



Michael's pre-recorded piece explaining the events of the morning.

Length: 2:24

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TSR: Who did it, and why?



More updates on the kidnapping.

Length: 3:44 / 3:22

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NR: More news on the abductions



Michael continues to update the situation on the mass-abduction.

Length: 3:40 / 2:10 / 2:41

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AAM: Massive abduction in Baghdad



Michael begins a long day of reporting about the brazen abduction of 100 - 150 men from a government building. The abductors wore Iraqi army/police uniforms and pulled off a highly organized raid in broad daylight.
 
Length: 1:44 / 2:48 / 2:40

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AC: "...the currency of political power is still men at arms."



Anderson asks Michael whether more troops would help the situation in Iraq.

Length: 2:32

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SAT: Tape summation



Michael does a prerecorded summation of the tape from al Qaeda in Iraq.

Length: 1:34

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AC: Reality check



Anderson plays some clips from today's insurgency message and discusses the actual capability of the groups to carry out their threats.

Length: 3:57

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TSR: More on the tape



Wolf talks to Michael about today's propaganda tape from al-Qaeda in Iraq, threatening to blow up the White House, etc etc.

Length: 3:13

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YWT: New threats



Hala talks to Mick about the audiotape released today by the head of al-Qaeda in Iraq, in which he taunts Bush and Rumsfeld.

Length: 3:02

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AC: "What may emerge is less of a vision of democracy..."



Anderson asks Peter Bergen and Michael about insurgent claims that the election results are a victory for them.

Length: 6:38

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TSR: How many civilian deaths?



Wolf asks Michael about new figures calculating the number of civilian Iraqi deaths.

Length: 2:59

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TSR: Rumsfeld resigns



In the first clip, Michael discusses the Rumsfeld resignation with Wolf Blitzer. In the second clip, two hours later, Michael discusses the effect of the election results and the SecDef resignation with Lou Dobbs.

Length: 3:19 / 2:31

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PZN: Whose democracy?



Michael describes the Iraqi perspective on the US election.

Length: 2:13

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TSR: Reactions



Michael discusses the verdict and the reaction of the Iraqi people.
 
(Note: these clips were actually part of the "America Votes" series, but aired during the normal TSR times.)

Length: 2:30 / 3:04

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SUN: More on the Saddam verdict



Michael sums up reaction to the verdict throughout Iraq.

Length: 4:42

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BN: The Saddam verdict



The verdicts are announced in the trial of Saddam Hussein and his cohorts. Michael discusses the news on CNN International in several clips over the space of three hours.
 
(There were some earlier interviews he did that I was unable to record; unfortunately, the video service CNN uses does not record Breaking News.)

Length: 6:52 / 1:29 / 1:36 / 7:15 / 5:21 / 4:08 / 7:11

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AAM: "...an enormous power base."



Michael speaks to Soledad about the Mahdi Army and the on-going search for the kidnapped American soldier.

Length: 2:44

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TSR: More on Sadr City and the Mahdi Army



Michael speaks with Wolf Blitzer and Paula Zahn about the Mahdi Army.

Length: 3:40 / 5:38

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TSR: "The most gripping emotion among ordinary people is fear."



Michael discusses the graph run by the NYT today, which shows Iraq moving closer to chaos.

Length: 4:09

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