by Mark Hudspeth, NBC producer

It seems like such a long time ago when I first spoke with Sara Peer. It was January, and I was researching a story about military families. Her husband Scott was serving a tour in Iraq with the a unit of the Minnesota National Guard whose tour had just been extended. The next day I had an email waiting for me from one of her friends whose husband was serving in Iraq with Scott. Sara had gone to the hospital to set up a webcam so that Lori's husband could see the birth of his third daughter. "Please do the story on her and her children," she wrote, "She so deserves it! She is a true unsung hero of this deployment!"

I finally met Sara this summer. Our story wasn't about the makeshift military networks that support one another during deployment, but I could see why Lori had so passionately lobbied for her friend. Sara really was holding it all together, and she'd been doing it for almost two years.

Scott finally did make it home in late July. When he left, his three-year-old daughter Vanessa couldn't get enough of Dora. Now she's five...and all about Princesses. His son Bryce was barely walking. Now, he's a struggle to keep up with. Two years is a long time to be away from your family.

Earlier this week I spoke with Dr. Melissa Polusny, who councils military families in Minnesota, about how it can be hard for many families to readjust to the "new normal" once the initial excitement of the homecoming wears off. Despite that, she pointed out, that these families are strong. They've been through a lot, and are surprisingly resilient.

I think that's a perfect way to describe the Peers -- surprisingly resilient.  

Click here to watch the report as it aired on 'NBC Nightly News.'
 

by Brian Williams, anchor and managing editor

For all the wars, floods, crimes, disasters and sadness we cover, there are occasionally days like today. We gathered in the office of our Executive Producer, Alex Wallace for a baby shower for producer Bita Nikravesh. In addition to being one of the sweetest people I know, Bita may be the most petite woman on the staff. Right now, days away from delivery of her first child, Bita appears to be made up of about 80 percent baby and 20 percent Bita. It was a baby-themed day, as former Nightly News producer (now at 60 Minutes) Magalie Laguerre-Wilkinson brought in her two daughters. We opened gifts, we oldsters talked about when our kids were young -- and then I noticed Weekend Nightly News Executive Producer Patrick Burkey getting a little lightheaded: he and his wife Maribel are expecting twins. All that talk about dilation, eipdurals, projectile vomiting, bathtime, teething, stain removal -- it can all make a guy nervous. It was a great day -- also punctuated by a bad rendition of "Happy Birthday" for our director, Brett Holey -- and a staff farewell and round of applause for Washington producer Tammy Kupperman. On an average day, we spend much more time with our work families than we do with our actual families at home. On days like this, it feels like it. And what a great second family we're all blessed to have. We'll let you know when it gets bigger, by one. Good luck, Bita!

We've reached the unofficial Final Friday of Summer. While it strikes me that we never suffered through any of the "dog days" of summer this year (in terms of the traditional long, hot slow patch in the news business -- there was always a compelling story to cover) things will feel different after the Labor Day break -- a busy week, and we're off to the races: the political season, the Petraeus report, and so forth. Having said that, we have a lot of news to report tonight. There's the housing story, the Senator Craig drama, Senator Warner's retirement, the fires out West, the Diana commemoration today and our usual Friday "Making A Difference" segment.

Labor day in history
It turns out that the first Labor Day holiday took place 125 years ago, on September 5, 1882. It was a Tuesday; the lure of a three-day weekend soon resulted in Labor Day being observed on the first Monday of September - in laws passed state by state, with Congress following suit in 1894. Back to that first Labor Day: it was celebrated in lower Manhattan in New York City, with numerous labor organizations taking part. Here's how it was covered in the New York Times the next morning:

Working men on parade

An Orderly Labor Demonstration - Ten-Thousand Men In Line 
The parade of working men yesterday, though not so large as its organizers predicted, was conducted in an orderly and pleasant manner. Those who rode or marched in the procession were cheerful, and evidently highly gratified with the display. Nearly all were well clothed, and some wore attire of fashionable cut. The great majority smoked cigars, and all seemed bent on having a good time on the picnic grounds. ... All along the route there were frequent cheers from the spectators on the sidewalks. Although the Police force was liberally represented, the officers were not at any time forced to exercise their authority. 
- September 6, 1882 NY Times, page 6

We hope you can join us for tonight's broadcast. Lester Holt will be here on Monday while I enjoy a day with my family. I will see you back here again on Tuesday evening. Have a great, safe holiday weekend.

by Mark Potter, NBC correspondent

In Jackson, Mississippi, recently we saw the latest trend in the national abortion fight playing itself out on one street corner. We'll show it to you tonight on NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams.

Outside the Jackson Women's Health Organization, the only abortion clinic still operating in Mississippi, dozens of young women coming in for abortions or doctor consultations were greeted by anti-abortion activists trying to convince them not to have the procedure.

Clinic officials say it's a daily ritual here that, while sometimes loud, is typically non-violent. For those of us who remember the many violent confrontations and even murders at abortion clinics in years past it's a dramatic change. It's also an indication a more effective method has been found by abortion opponents.

The latest tactic in anti-abortion activism involves legislation, and there standing with the protesters was Mississippi state senator Richard White, who has been promoting laws to severely restrict abortion providers. His ultimate goal is to end abortion altogether, and to
overturn its Roe V. Wade Supreme Court protections. The Mississippi legislature and many others around the country are the new battlegrounds.

Inside the Jackson clinic, the physician on duty, Dr. Joseph Booker, said "They're ultimately trying to close the clinic down, and they're trying to do it by putting more and more restrictions."

One of the women waiting in the lobby said a state law requiring patients to first come in for a consultation, then wait a day before actually having an abortion was very difficult and expensive for her. She had driven here from another county.

With the recent Supreme Court decision upholding a ban on late-term abortions, the anti-abortion protesters are feeling stronger now, and promise even more legislation next year around the country. Abortion rights supporters are quite concerned about this new twist in the long-time fight. It was all there on that Mississippi street corner. 

by John Rutherford, producer, Washington D.C.

Army Sgt. Princess Samuels' burial today at Arlington National Cemetery was much like her life, bathed in pink.

Her graveside floral arrangement contained lots of pink flowers. Many of the mourners wore pink in her honor. Her mother, Mrs. Anika Lawal, had on a large pink hat.

"She absolutely adored pink," her mother told WRC-TV.

All of Samuels' clothes were pink. So was her car.

"It was blue when she got it, but it didn't stay blue long," her mother told the Baltimore Sun. Samuels had her car custom-painted purplish-pink.

She even dyed her white poodle Skylar's ears and tail pink.

"She just loved life," her mother told WRC.

Samuels, nicknamed "Noodle" because of her 5-foot-2, 100-pound frame, joined the Army to see the world and ended up in Iraq as an imagery specialist in military intelligence.

"She's always been very smart, very intelligent," her aunt told the Sun.

But she was also terrified in Iraq and couldn't wait to get out, according to her mother.

"She was just like the other soldiers," her mother told the Washington Post. "Many of them don't believe in this mission. She didn't."

On Aug. 15, Samuels and Spc. Zandra T. Walker, 28, of Greenville, S.C., were killed in a mortar attack on their base in Taji, about 20 miles north of Baghdad.

"I want to know why I'm planning a funeral," her embittered mother told the Post last week, "while George Bush is planning a wedding."

Samuels was the 363rd casualty of the Iraq war to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

Washington Producer John Rutherford is a decorated Vietnam veteran. He posts a weekly blog on burials of service members at Arlington National Cemetery.

 

by Al Henkel, Acting Bureau Chief, NBC News Southwest Bureau

Update: This segment airs on tonight's broadcast.

Tonight on the broadcast we will introduce you to some of the men and women who fight the massive wildfires that burn every year throughout the American West. All of them have a unique journey to get to the firelines, but a common purpose once they get there.

On the side of a mountain in Western Montana we met Christian Blankenship (left), in charge of a hotshot crew --  a half dozen fire engines and "heavy metal"-bulldozers and skidders. More than 2,000 miles from his Fairbanks, Alaska, home, he's part of a Type-1 Fire management team from Alaska, sent here on a 2-week rotation. "You don't know if you're going to do it forever, or maybe next season I'll feel like I've had enough and it's time for something new." Firefighting paid his way through college. Blankenship has a degree in biology, yet comes back for the season work of fighting fires. "I got my degree and I'm still doing the same thing," he says.

I once spent three days with a hotshot crew on a fire in Idaho. Of the 20 people on the team, half had college degrees, two had master's degrees. Yet still they come back to work for about 10 bucks an hour, with overtime and hazard pay, for three or four months of the year.

The pride they have in their work, and the pride they have in each other is powerful. "Everyone takes care of each other, on the clock off the clock, you always watch their back," says Richard Wilson (right), the Superintendent of the Happy Camp Hotshots from Northern California. According to the National Interagency Fire Center, today there are over 15,000 men and women working on wildfires in the United States. Our nation should take great pride in them, and I hope you enjoy the few we spotlight tonight.

Click here to see more of Al's photo in our gallery, NBC News in the field.

Click here to watch the video.

Aug. 31: NBC's Janet Shamlian reports on the battle after the war. What happens to a family after a soldier comes home? Click here to watch.

 

 

Every weekday for 110 straight days we will feature a different living recipient of the Medal of Honor. These are the men who have received their nation's highest military honor. Brian is a board member of the Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation. The words and photos are courtesy of Artisan Books, publishers of Medal of Honor: Portraits of Valor Beyond the Call of Duty by Peter Collier with photographs by Nick Del Calzo.

Robert J. Modrzejewski
Captain, U.S. Marine Corps Company K, 3rd Battalion, 4th Marines, 3rd Marine Division

 

 

Robert Modrzejewski was a student at the

by Brian Williams, anchor and managing editor

When we say that air travel into and out of New Orleans is at "73% of its pre-Katrina capacity," here's what we mean: there is no way to fly from New Orleans to anywhere in the New York region after we get off the air at 6 p.m. local time -- so that means staying overnight, and that meant the available flights to New York this morning were full of journalists who'd been there to cover the two-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. I arrived just as our editorial meeting had gotten underway and am catching up on what is a changing broadcast for tonight.

MSNBC just played the Sen. Larry Craig arrest tapes, and my friend Ken Walsh of U.S. News just said Senator Craig is in "very serious political trouble." We'll have some of that audio on the broadcast tonight. We'll also report on the Virginia Tech investigation, the tremendous heat wave out West (new Arizona record: 29 days of temperatures over 110), domestic politics, Iraq and a major anniversary worldwide.

40 years ago today
On August 30, 1967, Thurgood Marshall was confirmed by the Senate as the 96th Justice -- and the first African-American Justice -- of the United States Supreme Court. The vote was 69-11. Among those voting against confirmation: Robert Byrd of West Virginia, who remains a Senator to this day, and Sam Ervin of North Carolina, who became a national figure six years later as chairman of the Senate Watergate Committee.

Marshall, whose great-grandfather was a slave, had argued and won dozens of civil rights cases before the Supreme Court in the years prior to his nomination -- most notably Brown vs. Board of Education in 1954. He served as a Supreme Court Justice for almost a quarter-century. When Justice Marshall retired in 1991, President George H.W. Bush chose to replace him with Clarence Thomas.

44 years ago today
On August 30, 1963, the famous "Hot Line" between Washington and Moscow became operational. The link was not the "red phone on the president's desk" of popular imagination, but rather a teletype machine located in the National Military Command Center at the Pentagon (with its counterpart located somewhere in the Kremlin). The hotline, intended to help prevent accidental nuclear war, was a direct result of the Cuban Missile Crisis the previous year -- a crisis made more acute by inadequate communications capability between Washington and Moscow. The link -- which signalled a small but significant warming trend in the Cold War -- was established without ceremony or fanfare. A Defense Department statement simply said, "The direct communication link between Washington and Moscow is now operational."

Please take a moment to read about the great Medal of Honor recipient Ola Mize.

We're back in our New York studios tonight, and we sure hope you can join us for NBC Nightly News.

by Chris Colvin, Nightly News writer

Hi. As we wind down toward the long weekend, a look at today's news on the economy and the credit crunch, with Fed Chairman Bernanke in the spotlight again. Also, a very strange futures trade raises speculation that someone knows too much, new clangs on the warning bell about a U.S. war with Iran, and hey Salon wants you to watch Mad Men tonight!

BACKWARD-LOOKING NEWS: The WSJ reports that prices for moderately-priced ($417,000 and below) homes increased 3.2% in the 2nd qtr year-over-year, and were essentially flat from the prior quarter. Also, Q2 GDP revised upward to 4% on stronger business spending and overseas sales. And government-sponsored mortgage financier FreddieMac's Q2 net income was down 45%. Sears net income down 40% (Uh oh consumers struggling?) And Merrill Lynch downgrades Wal-mart to sell. (Yep. Consumers struggling.)

FORWARD-LOOKING NEWS: Starting with Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's letter to Senator Chuck Schumer. Everyone seems to be hanging by a thread wondering what Bernanke's going to say tomorrow.. but it appears he's already said it! The Fed is watching the markets and is prepared to act (see yesterday's rally). And the private and public sectors could get together and help struggling homeowners. Text of letter courtesy of CalculatedRisk. Rex Nutting at Marketwatch writes up the news story. His blogger colleague Herb Greenberg is a bit taken aback by Bernanke's mortgage workout ideas. But here's a completely different idea than the ones Senators Schumer and Dodd and now Chairman Bernanke are batting around. Senator Obama wants any mortgage workouts to be paid for by abusive lenders rather than taxpayers. And the WSJ's Greg Ip may have moved the futures to the downside this morning with his observation that Ben Bernanke is no Alan Greenspan. Here's a money quote (so to speak): "Mr. Bernanke's approach to the credit crunch is, in part, an effort to undo perceptions fostered by Mr. Greenspan's rate-cutting interventions. Though successful, they drew allegations of "moral hazard" -- that is, of encouraging investors to act more recklessly because they think the Fed will protect them."

Other peeks into the crystal ball: CalulatedRisk gets ahold of a Goldman Sachs housing forecast which projects declines of 7% this year and 7% next. Some of the (really smart) group of CR commenters think this seems realistic and pretty bad for the economy. Others think GS is way underestimating. From the "You Read It Here First" file: Investors Business Daily: "Could Subprime sink Money Market Funds?" nteresting (and somewhat comforting observation) MM fund managers are drastically shortening the duration of the securities they hold.. moving a chunk of their money into securities that mature the next day.

Reuters ponders whether student loans are next at bat in the credit crunch.  Some municipal bonds are getting crushed already, as reported by Seeking Alpha. And circling back around to housing.. mortgage woes spread to high-end homes. An observation that's complemented by this CalulatedRisk post on how the non-agency (Fannie/Freddie) mortgage market is kaput. Here's a case study from The SanFrancsico Chronicle via Patrick.net.. a housing market with no buyers.

And Eric Janzen at iTulip.com give us a (forward-looking?) history lesson on the Fed and deflation, courtesy of Japan.

And for a very informative general discussion of the housing and mortgage markets, check out this interview with the founder of "The Mortgage Lender Implode-O-Meter" Aaron Krowne.

One last thing from the markets. I've been staying away from this for the past few posts because it involves futures trading in options (hard to understand) and some highly unusual trades that even professional traders don't get. But more people are writing about it now so if you like murky mysteries.. check out this analysis of what have become known as "those crazy SPY calls." Thestreet.com has another name for them: "The bin Laden Options."

Segueing to politics now, and some Democrats, including Hillary Clinton, divesting themselves of money from a big donor with past legal problems. WSJ has been moving the ball on this.

Steve Benen at The Carpetbagger Report rounds up the findings of a new GAO report that says in very blunt terms that the Surge is largely failing. RiehlWorldView thinks the GAO leaked because people are supporting the war more.

Glenn Greenwald delivers a roundhouse today on the subject of why some Republicans including a popular blogger/radio talk show host are insisting Larry Craig (pleaded guilty to looking for anonymous gay sex) resign, but David Vitter (admitted hiring heterosexual prostitutes) doesn't have to.

And while we've been so darn busy chronicling the minutia of the possible harbingers of an economic collapse, have we been neglecting the rhetorical run-up to the coming war with Iran? Hey, there's only so much Armageddon one person can focus on! (Thanks again Greenwald and Larry Johnson too.) Also: RawStory.. whaaaa?

And Salon digs my new favorite show.. Mad Men. AMC 10 E/9C!!

by John Rutherford, producer, Washington D.C.

What should the U.S. do in Iraq? Gen. David Petraeus is set to deliver a much-anticipated progress report on Iraq in a few weeks, but we went out to Walter Reed Army Medical Center today to get an assessment of the war from those closest to the situation, the soldiers themselves.

Click here to watch the video.

Three of six men receiving Purple Hearts agreed to talk to us, and all three of them were generally supportive of the war effort.

"We're doing good for the community and pushing the bad guys out," Pfc. William Goodman, 23, of Concord, N.C., said. Goodman was injured by a rocket-propelled grenade while on a dismounted patrol in Baghdad.

Sgt. Jeffrey Wray, 29, of Chesapeake, Va., who was injured while on an IED detonation mission in Baqubah, said the situation was improving when he left Iraq.

"The Iraqi people were a little safer than they were before," he said, "but I think we still have a lot of work to do and a lot of steps to go in Iraq to fix it."

Spc. Nathan Dehnke, 32, of St. Peters, Mo., said he was under a "busy mission load" before being injured by a roadside bomb in south Baghdad.

"It was obviously not the best of times or not the best things to be participating in," he said, "but by the same token I'm proud to have served with the people I was there with."

The soldiers had their own take on whether we should begin pulling troops out of Iraq.

"All the troops would say, yeah, they want to come home," Goodman said, "but we do need to finish what's going on over there."

Wray predicted American troops will be in Iraq for another five years.

"I think it's a good idea that the troops do start to come home but not all at once and not right now," he said. "I think it should be a slow process."

Dehnke said that's a political question he can't answer.

"I just do my job the best I can, help my fellow soldiers the best I can, and let the politics sort itself out for the most part," he said.

What do you think we should do in Iraq? We'd like to hear from you. Please give us your opinion by sending a comment below.

Every weekday for 110 straight days we will feature a different living recipient of the Medal of Honor. These are the men who have received their nation's highest military honor. Brian is a board member of the Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation. The words and photos are courtesy of Artisan Books, publishers of Medal of Honor: Portraits of Valor Beyond the Call of Duty by Peter Collier with photographs by Nick Del Calzo.

Ola L. Mize
Sergeant, U.S. Army Company K, 15th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division

Ola Mize, son of an Alabama sharecropper, dropped out of school in 1946 after the ninth grade to help take care of his mother, brothers, and sisters. A few years later, earning just fifteen dollars a week, he decided he could do better in the Army but was rejected because he weighed only 120 pounds. He kept pestering recruiters until they finally let him enlist. 

Mize was finishing his tour of duty with the 82nd Airborne when the Korean War broke out. He had planned to go back to school, but he didn't want to miss the experience of combat, so he extended his enlistment and volunteered for a front-line unit.

On the evening of June 10, 1953, Sergeant Mize's unit and another platoon were defending a position called Outpost Harry near Surang-ni, Korea, when Chinese troops attacked. First came a shattering artillery barrage, followed by an assault by a battalion-size force that overran the Americans.

Some weeks earlier, knowing that his M-1 rifle with its eight-round clip would be ineffective in close fighting, Mize had found a carbine and "traded" his rifle for it. Now he picked up the weapon, which could hold two taped-together clips of thirty rounds each, and attacked the Chinese clogging the American trench line. Firing constantly, he killed about forty of them.

With all the company's officers dead or wounded, Mize worked frantically to establish a defensive position, dragging wounded into shelters made of timbers pulled from American bunkers destroyed by enemy fire. Over the next several hours of hand-to-hand fighting, he assembled an impromptu patrol that went from bunker to bunker, firing out of the apertures in an effort to make the Chinese believe that they were still opposed by a vigorous force. At one point, seeing a Chinese soldier level his weapon at one of his men, Mize killed the soldier with a single shot. At another point, as Communist troops swarmed over an American machine gun, he charged the position, killing ten enemy soldiers and dispersing the rest. He was knocked down several times by grenades, and his uniform was shredded by shrapnel, but he escaped serious injury.

When the situation seemed lost, Mize got his men to crawl into bunkers and called in American artillery. He decided that it was better to get killed by your own fire than the enemy's. Around midnight, Mize dug himself out and made his way through enemy fire to his company command post, which had been overrun by Chinese forces. Then he worked his way back to his men.

They continued to repel the enemy in hand-to-hand fighting. American counterattack forces reached Mize's position at about noon on June 11. After helping to resecure the outpost, Mize got permission to take his wounded men back to the American lines. Upon reaching friendly territory, Mize, the regimental commander, and the division commander were all standing together. The two commanders did not recognize Mize, whose uniform was in tatters, his flak jacket smoking, and his face badly swollen from burns. "Who are you?" demanded the regimental commander. "Sergeant Mize," he answered. "You're not Mize," the commander responded. "He's dead."

Several months later, informed that he would receive the Medal of Honor, Mize told his commanding officer that he didn't want it because it really should go to

his entire platoon. He was reluctantly flown back to the United States so he could attend the ceremony in Denver. He was decorated by President Dwight Eisenhower on September 7, 1954.

In the early 1960s, Ola Mize joined the Special Forces and did three tours of duty in Vietnam. He retired as a colonel in 1981.

 

by Brian Williams, anchor and managing editor

I was given a T-shirt today that bears the following design: the fleur-de-lis logo of New Orleans, the number 504 (the area code here) and one other word: "home."  In an odd and emotionally gratifying way, this city is starting to feel like a second home.  I'm enormously proud of our coverage from here, and the fact that this is our 14th trip to the region in two years.  We'll start the broadcast from the very spot where we stood two years ago tonight -- when we thought the city had suffered a lot of wind damage, but that it had "dodged a bullet" where flooding was concerned.  How little we knew that first night after the storm.

Today we visited Engine Company 7 (left), the New Orleans firehouse we profiled months ago (video). When our story first aired, it got the attention of some good people who, upon hearing that firefighters were living in trailers, worked on getting the money to fix the 23 firehouses that were damaged in Katrina.  Work at Engine 7 is slow and steady. 

I also got to meet one of my heroes today: the New Orleans radio icon, Garland Robinette of "the Big 870" WWL-AM.  He's an institution here, and for good reason.  Garland is a lot of things: smart, commanding, compassionate, enormously talented and committed.  He's also beloved here.  We had a wonderful time on the air and he was nice to have us.

A senior administration official, travelling with President Bush, just told me by phone that the president was pleased with the feedback he received during his visit here.  (Mr. Bush spent the night here last night before two events here today, and then took a dicey helicopter ride through boisterous, stormy skies to Bay St. Louis, Mississippi). The official said the feedback was "99 percent positive," with very little talk of the problems of the past -- FEMA complaints, etc.  White House aides are very mindful that the mis-handling of this disaster is something that will always be with them.

Tonight we'll look back, we'll look around at present day New Orleans, and we'll look forward.  We'll have the help of two of our correspondents who have "done their time" here at our bureau, Martin Savidge and Ron Mott.  We'll cover the other news of this day including the story of Senator Craig, the death today of Richard Jewell, the West Nile virus and more.

We hope you can join us from New Orleans tonight -- and we'll see you back home in our New York studios tomorrow night.

NBC's Brian Williams reports from the Super Dome on the two year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Click here to watch.

 

Early Nightly: NBC's Ron Mott previews three stories that could make tonight's broadcast, including New Orleans' changing demographic.

by Les Kretman, NBC News producer, White House

The four door silver sports sedan is parked on West Executive Drive between the White House and the Executive Office Building.  This where it usually is, but why is it attracting so much attention today? White House staffers have been going up to it -- scratching their heads, laughing and some have even taken pictures of it with their cell phones.

The Jaguar belongs to Karl Rove, and somehow some staffers or someone else decided to preserve the car by enveloping it in Saran Wrap and topping off the Saran Wrap with two faux bald eagles sitting on  the trunk (video).

Rove, who finishes as the president's senior advisor this Friday, has been traveling  with Mr. Bush today through New Orleans and Mississippi. He returns to the White House later today.

Perhaps  there's some symbolism in the prank -- after all on Friday it will be a wrap. 

UPDATE: Rove returned, saw his car, and the secret service staged a mock arrest with one of the perpetrators -- Al Hubbard, director of the president's economic council.  The car has been cleaned up; it's no longer "under wraps."

Every weekday for 110 straight days we will feature a different living recipient of the Medal of Honor. These are the men who have received their nation's highest military honor. Brian is a board member of the Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation. The words and photos are courtesy of Artisan Books, publishers of Medal of Honor: Portraits of Valor Beyond the Call of Duty by Peter Collier with photographs by Nick Del Calzo.

Hiroshi H. Miyamura
Corporal, U.S. Army Company H, 7th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division

Hiroshi Miyamura grew up in

by Aram Roston, investigative producer

A U.S. law enforcement task force is investigating whether American military officials were involved in the disappearance of large numbers of weapons meant for Iraqi forces, sources confirm to NBC News. Investigators believe, sources say, that some weapons paid for by U.S. taxpayers were diverted and sold. Audits have already  determined that more than 190,000 weapons are not accounted for. 

Previously officials had argued this might have been due to bookkeeping errors rather than corruption necessarily.  Some weapons meant for Iraqi security forces were found in Turkey, and investigators are trying to determine how they were diverted there. The New York Times first reported on the investigation this morning.

The investigation is potentially politically embarressing for General Petraeus, currently leading U.S. efforts in Iraq, because he himself oversaw the effort to arm and train Iraqi security forces when much of the equipment went missing. Sources say he is not implicated.

According to sources, investigators believe that potentially, a ring of corruption involving the missing weapons may have been connected to a massive bribery scheme in Kuwait for which a U.S. Army Major has already been indicted in Texas. U.S. Army Major John Cockerham was indicted in federal court, accused of accepting more than $9 million in bribes --  although the indictment mentions contracts for bottled water, and nothing about weapons. 

American officals who were in Iraq in 2004 and 2005 tell NBC News there was chaos in the way weapons were distributed in Iraqi. Lt. Colonel David Styles  tells NBC News he personally saw the disorder involved in Iraqi weapons distribution. "I saw an entire truckload of AK-47s delivered to Ministry of Defense and people swarmed over it like bees on honey." Styles said "Everone who wanted AK47s drove up and took what they wanted. It was a free for all." Styles, who was responsible for standing up an Iraqi Mechanized Brigade, says that he brought a logistics specialist for the Iraqi soldiers under his supervision. "I had them take serial numbers. The mechanized brigade I was responsible for.. .  we did a serial number inventory."

Styles says he never saw corruption by U.S. officers but think it may have happened. "I wouldn't doubt it. There was so much going on there. If anyone had any integrity ssues I could see it happening." 

Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell says  the DOD  Inspector General Claude M. Kicklighter is headed to Iraq. "He's going with an 18 member team to figure out is if there is an open wound. Are we still bleeding. How do I stop the blood flow?"

by Brian Williams, anchor and managing editor

It's quite possible that the video blog I just fed in to New York a short time ago from Main Street here in Waveland, Mississippi can tell the story from here better than I can in this form. 

I guess I have to say I'm disappointed that more has not been done to bring this great little town back to life.  Standing on the pier looking back inland at Waveland is one of the prettiest spots anywhere along the Gulf -- and yet there's still not that much to see.  I'm about to go meet the Smolensky family; you'll see them on the broadcast tonight. We first met them close to two years ago. They turned out to be one of the success stories here, but as their daughter's blog nicely chronicles, it's an everyday fight, and I have nothing but respect and admiration for the folks here who've stuck it out.

We will be here tonight, back in New Orleans tomorrow (where I get to meet NOLA radio icon Garland Robinette when I drop by "The Big 870", WWL Radio tomorrow for a live interview.)  I'm glad to be back in the region.

We hope you can join us tonight for all the day's news from Waveland, Mississippi.

NBC's Robert Bazell previews his story for this evening's Nightly News with Brian Williams. What are the legitimate uses of painkillers and why are they so important to medicine?

Weigh in here: What do you think of the rise in painkiller use in the U.S. in the last decade?

by Chris Colvin, Nightly News writer

Hi. Obsessive? Pedantic? ME? Naaah. And proving it by beginning today's entry with the resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales instead of the dreaded credit crunch CRISIS (which is worrying me more by the day and will take up the bulk of the links...) OK. Maybe a bit obsessive.

Why beat around the Bush? Let's go right to former (Bill) Clinton senior adviser Sidney Blumenthal on how Gonzales had to go because he was nuthin' without his mentor/rabbi/protector Karl Rove.

And Blumenthal's Salon colleague David Cole recounts Gonzales' "dismal legacy."  Glenn Greenwald looks forward to confirmation hearings and the Democratic majority's responsibility to confirm a completely independent figure and not another Bush insider.

Slate's Bazelon and Lithwick take a whack at the same topic.  And their colleague John Dickerson gets psychological. ThinkProgress picks up on former WHU Press Secretary Ari Fleisher's contention that it's Congress that's politicized the Justice Department, a point TP's Faiz refutes with bullet points. And Jonathan Zasloff at the RealityBasedCommunity thinks NYT reporter Sheryl Gay Stolberg is as wacky as Ari Fleisher in her analysis that Gonzales' departure provides a "fresh start" for the President. Ed Morrissey at Captain's Quarters says Gonzales didn't do anything illegal in the U.S. Attorneys matter, but he botched his handling of it and thus, had to go. 

Now to Larry Craig... the conservative Republican Senator from Idaho who, we learned yesterday, pleaded guilty earlier this month to charges of lewd conduct involving a men's room that was a hotbed of gay sexual activity at the Minneapolis airport. Craig's hometown newspaper unloaded a long, long trail of reporting on the subject today. (Hat tip: my colleague Barbara Raab.) 

Greenwald takes on Craig.. and note the quote from Craig who recently signed on as Mitt Romney's Senate co-chair: "Knowing Governor Mitt Romney is knowing someone who, first and foremost, has very strong family values. That is something I grew up with and believe in." BulldogPundit mocks Craig's defensive statement from yesterday.

And this is rich: one of the world's most famous gay conservatives got married yesterday, the same day as the Craig revelation. Andrew Sullivan's guest blogger Jamie  points to this fact as an indicator that a societal sea change is afoot.  Hugh Hewitt has an interesting take -- that if Craig doesn't resign now the Mainstream Media will crank up the "scandal machine." Uhhhh... puzzling.  By the way, that's as close as I could come to a defense of Craig in the right blogosphere today... if you can find something more substantive, leave it in comments. I mean, even the boyz and gurlz at The Corner are posting Craig jokes. (Keep workin' on 'em kids.)

Moving on now to the credit crunch/crisis... (see new icon here!) and the latest bad news: consumer confidence is plummeting, Boston's venerable State Street Bank is said to be on the hook for a serious amount of crappy commercial paper.. the same stuff that sank 2 German banks last week. And the Fed was a lot more worried than it let on at its last meeting, according to the just released minutes.

So let's start with the Fed. Here's the WSJ on the fed minutes. And here's Slate's Daniel Gross' examination of who, exactly, is calling for them to lower the Fed Funds rate and why. (Hint-- it's the rich.)  And Willem Buiter at maverecon writes like an economist (which he is) on the Fed as market maker of last resort and argues against a rate cut. 

We pointed last week to Mega-bond fund manager Bill Gross's proposal that U.S. taxpayers should bailout mortgage holders. (Here's his September market letter, which is quite good until it veers into the horribly bad.) Well, a whole lotta people didn't take too kindly to Gross' idea: Paul Kasriel, Yves Smith at Naked Capitalism (hat tip: Tanta at Calculated Risk), Housingwire And Mike Shedlock at Mish's GlobalEconomicAnalysis peeks into Gross's massive bond fund and sees the real reason for his taxpayer bailout call.

And in case you missed it, here's some recommended reading from the NYT last weekend: Gretchen Morgenson's opus.. "Inside the Countrywide Lending Spree." And Leonhard/Bajaj with Sunday's lead story about home prices falling for the first time.  (Which was borne out today by Case-Schiller.. AP via CalculatedRisk.) Now to the troubled "commercial paper" market which has Boston's State Street Bank in its grip now. Here's Reuters take. A friend of Minyanville paints a scary picture. The London Telegraph looks at the big picture and also sees trouble.

And Mike Shedlock at Mish's Global Economic Forum raises the money market fund conundrum, which came up in this space last week.

Ok, time to get "meta" as they say... Tim Wood of Financial Sense.com says the chickens have come home to roost. (Hat tip opusprime at Tickerforum.org). Jim Kunstler gets really, REALLY dark.  Heather Wokush at the Daily Scare pins it all on Bush. (Hunch: there'll be much more where this came from. And a hat tip: Mortgage implode-o-meter.) And speaking of scary, debt is now scarier than bin Laden, via Peter Morton, Financial Post. But! Gerard Baker in the Times (of London) thinks all us Cassandras are a bunch of idiots. (Perhaps!) And Baker's previous offering is an instant classic... as numerous commenter point out. If you're going to predicate your argument with a Voltaire anecdote, don't undermine your snobbishness by getting said anecdote wrong. (P.S. there's nothing to worry about!) 

And let's end on an even lighter note! Geoffrey Gray at NY Magazine jumps on a trend. Think the markets are about to take a hit? Dump your spouse! (Hat tip NYT Dealbook.)

And this is one funny video (OK maybe I am getting a bit obsessive/pedantic...) (Hat tip: Yal in CalculatedRisk comments):

[Youtube:LWcXLRYXoMg]

Every weekday for 110 straight days we will feature a different living recipient of the Medal of Honor. These are the men who have received their nation's highest military honor. Brian is a board member of the Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation. The words and photos are courtesy of Artisan Books, publishers of Medal of Honor: Portraits of Valor Beyond the Call of Duty by Peter Collier with photographs by Nick Del Calzo.

Lewis L. Millett
Captain, U.S. Army Company E, 27th Infantry Regiment

In 1940, Lewis Millett left high school after his junior year to enlist in the Army so he could fight fascism. Assigned to an Air Corps gunnery school, he became increasingly upset with Europe's weak resistance against German aggression, with the Nazis' treatment of the Jews, and especially with the way the United States was paralyzed by isolationism. To get into combat, he deserted, crossed the Canadian border, and enlisted in the Canadian Army. He was sent to London shortly afterward and manned an antiaircraft gun during the Blitz.

When American troops began arriving in England in 1942, Millett took advantage of a provision that allowed American citizens serving with an allied country to transfer into the U.S. military. He served with the American Army in North Africa, where he was awarded the Silver Star and promoted from private to sergeant, then fought at Salerno and Anzio. It was at Anzio that his old records finally caught up with him. He was told he had been court-martialed and found guilty of desertion. His sentence was a fifty-two-dollar fine. The same day, he received a battlefield promotion to lieutenant for his fearlessness in combat.

Millett went to college when the war ended, then joined the Maine National Guard. Soon after the outbreak of the Korean War, he joined the 8th Field Artillery of the 25th Division and was sent to Korea. Not long after his arrival, the commanding officer of an infantry company in the 27th Infantry (the "Wolfhounds") was killed, and Millet took over.

On February 7, 1951, he was in command of an under-strength company of about one hundred soldiers near the Korean village of Soam-ni. They were proceeding up a road in subzero temperatures when they ran into a superior force of Chinese Communist soldiers dug into the hills above. One of Millett's platoons was pinned down by automatic weapons fire; he brought up another platoon for support. A few weeks earlier, he had heard that the Chinese Army was circulating handbills among their troops accusing the Americans of being "afraid of cold steel"—the bayonet—so he had trained his men hard in the use of that weapon. Now, with the Communists raking his position with small arms fire and his men running low on ammunition, he ordered them to fix bayonets and led a charge up the hill. 

A conspicuous figure at the head of his company with his large red handlebar mustache, Millett reached the enemy trench line and bayoneted two enemy soldiers. Then, using his rifle as a club against the others, he forced the Chinese to break and run. He was wounded by grenade fragments but refused evacuation until the position was secured. Later, he explained that he engaged in this action as an homage to his grandfathers, both of whom had fought in the Civil War and had participated in bayonet charges.

Millett was pulled off the line a few weeks later. When he asked why, he was told that he had been recommended for the Medal of Honor and his commanders didn't want him to get killed before the ceremony. President Harry Truman presented the medal to him on July 5, 1951.

After Korea, Millett attended Infantry Officers Advanced Course and Ranger school as a major. He was assigned to the 101st Airborne Division and became involved in the Special Operations community. During the war in Vietnam, he helped establish the Vietnamese Ranger school and the Commando training program in Laos. At the time of his retirement in 1973, he was the only colonel in American military history to have been found guilty of desertion.

 

by Brian Williams, anchor and managing editor

All kinds of random notes here, on the eve of what will be our 14th trip to New Orleans since Katrina.  Tomorrow night, you'll see us from Waveland, Mississippi, and then from New Orleans on Wednesday night.  I'm looking forward to seeing both old friends and progress on our travels.

by John Rutherford, Washington D.C. producer

Reporters, spectators, and courtroom sketch artists begin arriving at 4 a.m. to get in line for one of the 100 coveted courtroom seats for Michael Vick's plea hearing at 10:30 am.

By the time I arrive at 6:30, 30 people are already ahead of me along the side of the federal courthouse in Richmond. About two dozen television satellite trucks are parked behind the courthouse for liveshots. PETA protestors begin congregating across Main Street from the front of the courthouse to howl at Vick when he arrives to plead guilty to the dog fighting charges.   

At 9:50 a.m., we begin filling into courtroom 339, an ornate, dark-paneled chamber. Vick and his lawyer Billy Martin arrive at 10:25. The room hushes. Dressed in dark grey suit, white shirt, and yellow tie, Vick looked nervous.
                         
Three minutes later, Judge Henry Hudson enters. He's bald, regal looking. He gets right down to business. The Richmond court is known as "rocket docket" for good reason. He goes through charges against Vick. Vick, standing and flanked by lawyers, answers "Yes, sir" or "No, sir" in low tone to judge's questions. He formally pleads guilty to dog fighting conspiracy charge. Hudson says he's not bound by the recommended 12-18 month prison sentence.

"You will have to live with what I decide," he tells Vick. Judge Hudson sets sentencing for 10 a.m., Dec. 10. It was only 18 minutes from beginning to end.

Afterwards, Vick looked lost in courtroom. He stands, sits, stands again. He turns to family members sitting right behind him. Press people are escorted out of courtroom.

Outside, PETA protestors still massed across street. One placard reads, "All Dogs Go To Heaven. Will Michael Vick?"
                  
Billy Martin speaks briefly to cameras behind courthouse. Says he hopes Judge Hudson saw the real Michael Vick and will "get it right" on Dec. 10.

Half an hour later, Vick himself steps before the cameras at nearby Omni Hotel. It was hard to hear over clicking still cameras. He gave a complete mea culpa. He says he's ashamed and  disappointed in himself. He apologizes to young kids for his "immature acts" and says he needs to grow up. He takes full responsibility and cites bad judgment. He calls dog fighting a "terrible thing" and asks for forgiveness.

He says he's turning himself over to God and walks off stage without taking questions.

by Bonnie Optekman, Vice President, News Technology

Just another few words about Roger O'Neil's great spot on environmentally friendly dry cleaners...

First of all, I couldn't help but think about that very old joke (too old for me to know) about the mystery of putting two wire hangers in a closet and finding a rod full of them the next day.

But seriously, folks..."green" cleaners are indeed all the rage.  I just decided to try one called Green Apple Cleaners, based in New York and New Jersey.  CEO David Kistner says their methods are safer for the consumer and their garments as well as the environment.  The one cleaning agent that Green Apple, as well as other "green" dry cleaners, say they ban is perchlorethylene or "perc."  They use carbon dioxide instead.  They also "wet clean" with mild cleansers, including non-chlorine bleach, that are hypo-allergenic and antifungul and "sophistocated, computer programmed washers and dryers."  Dry cleaning, by the way, isn't really dry.  There has to be some kind of liquid solvent that lifts the dirt out of the clothing. 

Other services use other methods they call "green" or "organic" but make sure you ask questions and do some research first.  There's a ton about this on the web.

In the meantime, Green Apple sent me lovely garment bags for my clothes which they will pick up and even a pen made of recycled paper and plastic.  That bodes well I think.  Can't wait to see the hangers!

Every weekday for 110 straight days we will feature a different living recipient of the Medal of Honor. These are the men who have received their nation's highest military honor. Brian is a board member of the Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation. The words and photos are courtesy of Artisan Books, publishers of Medal of Honor: Portraits of Valor Beyond the Call of Duty by Peter Collier with photographs by Nick Del Calzo.

David H. McNerney
First Sergeant, U.S. Army Company A, 1st Battalion, 8th Infantry, 4th Infantry Division

David McNerney always felt that the military was in his DNA. His father had volunteered for World War I and fought in