December 2009

AC: "If you can have this Mexican blood on your hands, then you're a better -- or a worse -- person than I."



Erica Hill talks to Michael and former DEA agent Robert Strang about the action on Wednesday that resulted in the death of the leader of one of the Mexican drug cartels.

Length: 4:56

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CB: "There was no option of doing anything to stay alive...It was, you die. That was it."



An edited version of the piece about Roy Hallums that aired on AC360 last night, followed by Rick Sanchez asking Michael to talk more about what happened on Haifa Street.

Length: 10:11

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AC: "He was held there for ten months, always tied, always masked. For the last three months when they would close the lid, they would cement it over."



Michael's prepared piece on Roy Hallums, an American contractor who was held hostage by Iraqi insurgents for 311 days. Michael also discusses some of the details of his own close call on Haifa Street in 2004.

Length: 8:24

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CB: "What I'm saying, it's being paid for in Mexican blood. Are they less than Americans?"



Rick Sanchez fills in for Campbell Brown and talks to Michael And former DEA agent Robert Strang about the shootout yesterday in Mexico that ended in the death of the head of one of the drug cartels.

Length: 7:43

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AC: "...the profit incentive is so huge that there's nothing to stop them."



Another look at the slaughter going on in Juarez, with some of the same footage we've seen and some new info as well. Afterwards, Michael joins Anderson in the studio to discuss the future.

Length: 5:08

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AC: "This was yet another afternoon of killing in Juarez, with a night of murder yet to follow."



Anderson Cooper hosts from San Diego; Michael reports on the latest escalation in violence in Juarez after a horrific attack on a drug rehab facility. Yesterday, Michael and his crew spent the day riding with law enforcement officials as the body count climbed higher and higher.

Length: 7:05

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AC: "It will be a responsible withdrawal, and it will be based upon the conditions on the ground."



Anderson Cooper talks with Michael, Chris Lawrence, Peter Bergen, David Gergen, and Robin Wright (from the US Institute of Peace) about the withdrawal date of July 2011, whether we are doing nation-building, and whether corruption really matters.

Length: 7:39 / 6:26 / 6:56

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CT: "America did not go there to save Afghan women, to educate Afghan children..."



Erica Hill talks to Michael, Peter Blaber (author of "The Men, the Mission, and Me"), and Jeremy Scahill (author of "Blackwater" and a writer for The Nation). Michael explains why we have to deal with the Afghan warlords in order to stabilize the situation enough get our troops out.

(People may bristle at his ending comments, but as usual, he lays the truth on the line, politics be damned. I may not like the reality, but it is the reality, and that's what we need to deal with.)

Length: 8:15

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LKL: "It's going to take a couple of miracles, a sprinkle of magic, and a good dose of some good luck."



Larry King was on live after AC360 and spoke to Michael, Peter Bergen, and Nic Robertson.

Michael again emphasizes that whether another 30,000 troops will help depends completely on where they are are posted on what their orders will be.

(I thought Nic's insight about the medical issues was very interesting -- we will have more fatalities because of the differences in terrain from Iraq, the lack of the ability to get wounded troops medivac'd to a hospital within the 'golden hour' after the injuries are sustained, which is a reason so many more wounded in Iraq have been saved.)

Length: 6:27

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AC: "It will be a lot bloodier. It will be a lot messier. Expect a lot of human rights to go out the window."




Anderson Cooper kicks off AC360 with a recap of the most important moments from the speech and then talks to his panel: Michael, Christiane Amanpour, Nic Robertson, Peter Bergen, and Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

Michael says he was disappointed by the revoiced rhetoric he heard ("Let's hit Pakistan with a wet piece of lettuce") although he was not expecting details to be discussed in the speech.

In the second clip, John King and Michael are back at the Magic Wall to show again where the American/NATO forces are and where the fighting is.

Finally, Anderson talks to Fareed Zakaria about the president's grasp of the situation in Afghanistan (which leads to a wisecrack about Michael's wearing of the
salwar kameez).

Length: 7:19 / 3:03 / 2:34

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DA: "He said, 'One thing at a time. Security first, opium second.' "



Michael rejoins TBFPTOT (now also including Fareed Zakaria) as Anderson Cooper asks questions about the speech. In the second clip, Wolf Blitzer asks about the drug situation in Afghanistan and how thoroughly drugs fuel the economy there and whether we can tackle that problem.

Length: 6:09 / 3:31

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PA: "The flags say it all. This is an American war."



Immediately following the speech, Michael is back at the map with John King to show the exact line of delineation between where the NATO troops are and where the American troops are ... and overwhelmingly the American troops are where the Taliban is strongest. Despite the NATO support, "This is an American war."

Google maps also gives a good idea of the difficulty of the terrain (at the end of the Himalayas) that we are trying to close down and control, and Michael asks where the discussion was about "the neighbors" who are such important players in this war.

Length: 6:51

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CT: "Is the president finally ready to fight this war or not?"



Less than 30 minutes prior to the speech, Campbell Brown introduces "the best foreign policy team on television" -- Michael, Christiane Amanpour, Nic Robertson, Barbara Starr, and Chris Lawrence.

Length: 4:16

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TSR: "We took a very, very small bite of a very big apple. There's simply not enough troops here."



Michael joins John King at the Magic Wall to explain where US troops are, where we need more people, and who is in power on both the Afghan and Pakistan sides of the border. (Although John drives; Michael points but doesn't touch.)

Length: 4:09

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CNN/I: BackStory



Michael Holmes talks to Michael about tonight's address and the situation in Afghanistan.

Length: 8:35

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NR: "Pakistan and India see each other as mortal enemies. And Afghanistan is just one more field in which those two are fighting."



Rick Sanchez talks to Michael prior to the president's speech and asks him what we will actually be able to achieve in Afghanistan.

Length: 4:14

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NR: "Afghanistan is a war being waged within many wars."



Michael's prepared piece about who the enemies are in Afghanistan. (VO only)

Length: 3:37

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