Only ABC Airs Full Good Iraq News Story,
NBC Can't Resist Caveat
The Pentagon on Monday released a quarterly report showing dramatic reductions in violence in Iraq compared to a year earlier, but only ABC aired a full story Monday evening while NBC gave it short-shrift as anchor Brian Williams cited the reduction in violence "by as much as 80 percent" since "before the so-called troop surge." He then added a caveat about how the report "also warns the positive trend here remains, quote, 'fragile, reversible and uneven.'" CBS didn't mention the Department of Defense report, but gave a few seconds to a front page USA Today story on how the number of Americans killed by roadside bombs has plummeted 88 percent from a year ago.
Fill-in ABC anchor Elizabeth Vargas teased, "Report card: The government says there's good news from Iraq. Violence is down dramatically, while security and the economy are improving." Reporter Terry McCarthy recited how "civilian deaths are down 75 percent since last July. Total security incidents are at their lowest level in over four years." McCarthy credited "a number of reasons for the progress: Better performance by the Iraqi security forces; surprising new leadership by Prime Minister Maliki, who's confronting both al-Qaeda and the militias; and the creation of 103,000 Sons of Iraq -- local security forces, many of them recruited from the insurgency." Indeed, McCarthy confirmed the Pentagon's assessment:
"For the past three weeks, we've traveled the length of Iraq, from Basra in the south to Mosul in the north, and the reduction in violence is remarkable everywhere."
McCarthy also highlighted an up side to rising oil prices, the increased revenue is helping Iraq: "One other thing that's going Iraq's way, Elizabeth, the rising price of oil. At over $130* a barrel, the government is generating substantial revenues that it can use to rebuild the economy."
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