We suddenly have a full broadcast on this day that has no overarching, slam-dunk, compelling, must-run lead story. And I'm going to hedge our bets a bit on story order. Veterans of this blog know that we like to call our broadcast rundown a "living, breathing document" just as we were all taught to call the Constitution. This intended-to-be-humorous delusion of grandeur on our part has some truth to it: I can't think of the last broadcast we did that exactly equaled on the air what was agreed to at 2:30 p.m. That said, Iraq will be at or near the very top tonight. Today saw the worst attack in three weeks, and we now know more about the 10 Marines who lost their lives there last week. The Saddam trial continues (fascinating profile of Ramsey Clark in this morning's New York Times) and the defendant is getting downright out of control.

The topic of Katrina was back on the Hill today, a hearing designed to elicit testimony of horror stories suffered at the height of it all.. .say nothing of the suffering still going on. Some of those testifying gave voice to a widely-held theory in some areas of New Orleans that the government overtly or covertly "allowed" (or more directly "caused") the flooding to happen where it did. Some of the talk is incendiary. The word "genocide" was used in the hearing today. Some of the talk has to do with the areas that were spared the water, compared to the areas now barren and desolate. It's emotional, but it is a very real subplot, one that cannot be ignored, as it's something you hear being talked about throughout that city. It's also reportedly the topic of a documentary Spike Lee is now shooting in New Orleans. And it's an issue this broadcast will deal with at greater length in the very near future.

The Great Louisiana Document Dump continues to pay off... and as our journalists continue to pore over its pages, we're finding more to point out. We'll look at the current atmosphere on Capitol Hill as well (six Members of Congress under investigation, by our count) and ask what's going on there.

Also tonight, we'll examine whether pensions are a thing of the past. And we'll look at whether or not there are lessons in how President Gerald R. Ford handled the Swine Flu scare in the 1970s (we Presidential history buffs will do ANYTHING to inject it into the broadcast) that we can learn from today.

Our piece on the military dog last night lit up the ranks of e-mailers overnight. I'm always struck by the fact that no matter how much other journalism we have in the broadcast... no matter that our correspondents and producers and crews are risking their lives on a daily basis to bring the news home to us and our viewers... it's the German Shepherd that gets the e-mail attention. Apparently, viewers of Nightly News last night included Virginia Republican Senator John Warner, who has vowed to negotiate the Rex Amendment into the next Defense funding bill. Good dog, Rex.

We hope you can join us tonight.

What parent hasn't endured a grocery store run with a child in tow, begging for a sugary cereal or high-calorie snack? As a mom of young children, it's a struggle in my own kitchen. The low-sugar oatmeal is often left untouched, as the troops scour the pantry for the cartoon character cereal they saw on television.

Tonight, we'll examine a major study on the effects of food marketing on the diets and health of children. A nation of young people are being bombarded with sales pitches for low-nutrition food, at a time when childhood obesity rates are at an all-time high. The study reveals children as young as two are targets of these persuasive ads.

We'll talk to a suburban mom with four children about her strategies, and hear the panel's recommendations for limiting this kind of marketing.

In the first legal challenge to the controversial CIA practice of kidnapping terror suspects and taking them to a third country for allegedly abusive interrogation, the ACLU today filed suit against former CIA director George Tenet for allegedly illegally kidnapping and torturing a German national, Khaled al-Masri, for months even after knowing it was a case of mistaken identity. Al-Masri is asking for an apology and at least $75,000 in damages. 

Al-Masri participated in the D.C. newser by video conference from Germany after having been refused entry into the U.S. when he landed in Atlanta last Saturday. Through a translator, he described how he was kidnapped from Macedonia and allegedly tortured by CIA interrogators.

"I am asking the American government to admit its mistakes and to apologize for my treatment," al-Masri said. "Throughout my time in the prison, I asked to be brought before a court but was refused. Now I am hoping that an American court will say very clearly that what happened to me was illegal and cannot be done to others."

The ACLU claims it has standing to sue in U.S. district court in Alexandria, Va. based on constitutional restrictions on U.S. officials, even involving events that occur on foreign soil. They also say al- Masri has standing under a 2004 Supreme Court ruling regarding the right of aliens to sue.

Asked what proof they had that Tenet knew the CIA was holding the wrong man, ACLU officials cited last spring's NBC report (an exclusive by my colleague Lisa Myers) and recent follow-up reports in the Washington Post.

In Berlin today, new German Chancellor Angela Merkel - at a joint news conference with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice - for the first time acknowledged that the U.S. has officially apologized for the al-Masri case - something Rice and other officials still refuse to acknowledge publicly.

Rice said today: "I did say to the chancellor that when and if mistakes are made we work very hard and as quickly as possible to rectify them," Rice said. "Any policy will sometimes have mistakes."

President Bush says his plan to fight bird flu is urgently needed and Congress is arguing over the cost. What's this fight mean for your health and safety? Plus, we'll look at the big Swine Flu scare of the 70s -- are there lessons we can use today?

As much as I like reporting for TV, there is one major frustration -- the average piece is shorter than two minutes, which means there's always a lot of good stuff that doesn't get included. In tonight's story about Air Force Tech Sgt. Jamie Dana and her dog Rex, one thing that I didn't have time for was Dana's eloquent and heartfelt explanation why she -- a naturally shy person who avoids the limelight -- agreed to do interviews with the media.

In her own words:

"I've agreed to do these just for one reason and that's to support the troops, to remind people we have men and women over there dying every day, every day. They're missing their families. We've got people over there dying that never see their babies, and people can't forget that. I mean, I understand some people don't like the war and that's OK, you don't have to like the war, but those troops are over there fighting for our freedom and dying for our freedom and dying for your right to say you don't like the war, and people tend to forget that. They tend to let it go out of their minds and that's not right. Our troops over there need support. They need to know the American public is behind them. That's why I agreed to do these."

Her second reason, she said, was to thank everyone in the Air Force who helped her:

"The medics saved my life. I would not be here if it wasn't for the Air Force Academy medics and the other ones that were over there, the troops that pulled me out and got me to the hospital, the men and women who continuously wrote to me, sent me e-mails, called me. And the Air Force has supported me every step of the way. I want my chance to say thank you to all of them."

Saddam Hussein walked into court today, turned and smiled to reporters. It was a big toothy grin. It was clear from then, that we, not the court, were his target audience today. Throughout the day Saddam talked about the importance of world public opinion and the feelings of the Arab world. He seemed reluctant to talk about the events in Dujail, but he did want to talk, to re-invent himself, to make a transformation from captured dictator defeated by the Americans to a resistance leader, and Arab and Islamic hero. (It's no accident he has a Koran in his hand every time he wants into the courtroom.)

Covering the trial is historic and exciting, but it does feel a bit like we are watching animals in the zoo, seeing how they react when poked with sticks through the bars. There is a voyeuristic aspect that is disturbing and fascinating. One reporter joked, "I hope tomorrow they bring Saddam in like Hannibal Lecter, complete with face mask."  Everyone laughed, because everyone I think secretly wished it would happen.

Editor's note: This is but one of the six, count 'em, six posts Richard filed today in NBC's latest contribution to the blogosphere: Blogging Baghdad: The Untold Story.

The above headline might as well be the theme of our day. By consensus at our morning and afternoon editorial meetings, we will begin tonight with the 9/11 commission's admonition that Americans are neither as safe as they think, nor as safe as they should be. It is sobering stuff, and tonight Lisa Myers will walk us all through it. Andrea Mitchell will have the latest on the debate over torture (coming off Sen. John McCain's appearance on Meet the Press and Condoleezza Rice's comments in a rare session at Andrew's Air Force Base today). Richard Engel will report on the trial of Saddam Hussein -- a particularly boisterous court session today, and what we can glean from the behavior of the defendant.

Another story germane to our headline today: the massive "document dump" coming out of the Louisiana Governor's office... their version of what was going on behind the scenes during those awful days when so many were suffering and Americans were watching it on live television. The material predictably cuts both ways (our staff has pored over a massive amount of it), but some of it is damaging to the Feds, in terms of reaction time and ultimate response.

We'll also be offering a piece we advertised this weekend about the realistic chances of "cable a la carte"... an option whereby those of us who are forced to accept premium cable channels we don't want (they are "bundled" together under classy-sounding names like "Platinum Package" and we end up paying a fortune for four different versions of Cinemax) could theoretically pick and choose which channels to get and pay for.

An aside: how interesting that Andrew Sullivan gave voice, on this weekend's Chris Matthew's Show, to the theory kicking around Washington that Sen. Joe Lieberman will replace Rumsfeld as SecDef. That would explain what many saw as some recent comments by the Senator which were labeled both incongruous and uncommonly sympathetic to the administration for a Senator, albeit a moderate, from the opposition party. 

WEATHER OR NOT
The weather, past and present, is top of mind today: first, we're watching an encroaching snowstorm affecting a huge swath of the Northeast Corridor. As a longtime resident of Washington, I can only guess what the Rock Creek Parkway looks like right about now, as I'm watching our incoming feed from a snow-whipped Capitol Hill. How to say this gently: Washingtonians tend, ever so slightly, to freak out in the snow. The established theory is that so many people who drive in Washington aren't FROM Washington. That would begin to explain the inordinate number of cabs which are actually abandoned with any significant snowfall. It's bedlam. And it's headed our way!

Also weather-related: the aftermath in New Orleans. I met today over lunch with several representatives of the D-Day Museum in New Orleans, a breathtaking collection of artifacts, history and exhibits from World War II. It is in many ways a monument to the work and dreams of the late historian Stephen Ambrose. The facility will soon be completely repaired (while it's in a section of the city that was untouched by flood waters, it sadly was damaged more by looters than by the forces of Mother Nature), and now there's just one problem: no one is visiting New Orleans. The city, as we reported last week, is losing $1.5 million each DAY in lost tourism. It's part of the argument that we all share a stake in the city's recovery. The museum has had to lay off over 40% of its staff. That this much history is going unseen is a tragedy. Luckily, the museum has some high-powered and loyal friends like Tom Brokaw, who has done so much for the chronicling of the story of the great veterans of World War II. Half the battle is to raise public awareness of its plight... and most important: to get people to go visit the magnificent facility.

WELCOME TO THE CLUB
Congratulations to our newly-named competitors. ABC News today announced that Elizabeth Vargas and Bob Woodruff are the new permanent anchors of World News Tonight. While I have transmitted a personal message to each of them, the truth is there's nothing new about them as competitors whatsoever. For many weeks now, I have been going head-to-head with one or the other (in addition to the great Charlie Gibson) and know them all to be top-notch people and top-notch journalists. After the sadness that our friends at ABC News had to endure following Peter's death, we know this is a happy day for them.

A good note to end on. Tomorrow, all bets are off! We hope you can join us for tonight's effort.

Who wouldn't want to pay for just the cable channels you want, not the dozens you don't? A new plan could let you pick and choose your channels one by one instead of bundled together in packages.
But while it may sound great, some are saying cable bills could actually go higher as a result. We'll sort out "cable ala carte" tonight.

A great many of you e-mailed about Friday's story regarding the rarity of owner/pet reunions in the hurricane zone. I receive e-mails all the time from viewers who continue to be concerned for the welfare of animals caught up in the Katrina/Rita tragedy. We continue to follow developments because we know many were not only touched but moved to action... offering themselves as volunteers. There are still groups patrolling the streets of New Orleans today looking for animals which they feed or trap and bring to shelter.

Many shelters in the area are still filled with animals rescued months ago... and time is running out. Some have extended care until the end of December, but after that a solution must be found.

Reuniting these pets with their original owner(s) is the preferred solution for all involved, barring that, finding a foster home until reunion is possible is the next best thing, animal rescuers say. Just as for humans, Katrina was an overwhelming disaster for those who care for animals. Mistakes were made, but lessons have been learned. This week in Washington, as animal welfare groups meet, those lessons are being turned into positive action, so that when next year's hurricane season comes all creatures will be better looked after.

"The Daily Nightly" has been such a success that NBC News has caught the blogging bug. That's why, starting today, you can read "Blogging Baghdad: The Untold Story." Correspondent Richard Engel headlines the effort, which promises in its mission statement to "detail the realities of daily life for ordinary Iraqis, American troops and the media living in a 24-hour war zone."  There will always be a standing link to the blog on the right side of this page or you can bookmark BaghdadBlog.MSNBC.com. From time to time Richard and other correspondents in the war zone will also file here in "The Daily Nightly," particularly when they're working on a story for that night's air. But for all the inside scoop from NBC News personnel assigned to Iraq, be sure to check out "Blogging Baghdad."

For those of you who want more information about the terrific story we aired tonight on the photographer who retraced the trail of Lewis and Clark, here is where you can find out more.

The title of the book is "The Lewis & Clark American Landscapes" by Richard Mack, Quiet Light Publishing, www.quietlightpublishing.com.

On this snow white Sunday in New York, a quick thank you to bloggers who responded to the weekend edition of "The Daily Nightly."  We appreciate your comments.

As we begin our afternoon meeting, there are several developing stories tonight.  One from New Orleans tonight on the release of 100,000 documents by Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco regarding Hurricane Katrina.  Those documents, the Governor's office will argue tonight, paint a picture of how and when Louisiana sought help from the federal government.  NBC's Kerry Sanders will have more on that story tonight.

We are also following news out of Iraq.  NBC's Jim Maceda will report on the reopening of the trial of Saddam Hussein and security there just a week before the Iraqi elections.

Some of you asked about the story of Lance Corporal Alex Cornell Du Houx, a young Marine who will be reporting for active duty in Iraq this week. He is a junior at Bowdoin College.  What's different about this story is that Alex is the head of his school's Young Democrats club, and he disagrees with the President's Iraq policy.  NBC's Jonathan Alter will have the details.

From NBC's Dawn Fratangelo a disturbing report about how the historically low crime rate in this country appears to be rising again in some cities.

And from Fullerton, California, why some parents are upset about a new school program that encourages students to buy laptop computers.  NBC's Jennifer London has that.

For now it appears we'll be leading with the New Orleans story.  Still, it's hours before our broadcast and things could change.  We'll keep you advised, and look for you tonight.

Welcome to the weekend edition of the Daily Nightly.  We are proud to launch this look at our NBC Nightly News broadcast on Saturday and Sunday alongside Brian's, already established, weekday blog.  Senior Broadcast Producer Bob Epstein and I will bring you a preview of what to expect each weekend.

Many of you have asked about when you may be able to find the Saturday and Sunday editions of Nightly News online,  now available Monday through Friday.  We expect an announcement in a few days.

On this Saturday, one of our top stories is from Pakistan tonight.  NBC News confirmed overnight that a CIA Predator missile killed a top Al Qaeda operative in western Pakistan. Our producers Robert Windrem and Carol Grisanti were at work all night on this story, breaking many of the details in the early hours of today here on msnbc.com, and our Pentagon correspondent Jim Miklaszewski has been working the story all day, and will have the latest for us tonight.

We are also learning more about the attack on U.S. Marines in Iraq.  Earlier today,  all off us in the newsroom gathered around the TV to watch new video broadcast by Al Jazeera, released by a group calling itself the "Islamic Army of Iraq."  It shows a group of U.S. troops walking down a road on either side of a humvee.  Suddenly, the humvee explodes.  The issue right now is whether this video actually shows Thursday's attack which killed 10 Marines, or is another incident. NBC's Jim Maceda is working the story, and will have the latest  tonight.

Also, the Mayor of New Orleans is in Atlanta today to talk to displaced Katrina survivors.  They have lots of questions.  There are also questions about why the Federal Emergency Management Agency pulled all its workers out of the lower 9th ward of New Orleans after threats of violence. Correspondent Kerry Sanders has been out in the lower 9th today, gathering reaction, and he will bring us up to date.

Just some of the stories we're following today. It looks like the lead will either be the Al Qaeda story, or Iraq. We'll see how they both unfold in the next few hours.
From time to time, we'll update The Daily Nightly as new develops and our broadcast changes.  We look forward to your comments.
         
   

Here's some more information on the Greater Chicago Food Depository featured in Kevin Tibble's "Making a Difference" story Friday on Nightly News.

The Food Depository distributes food to 600 agencies, including pantries, soup kitchens, and shelters. According to a national study, without their donations, nearly 92 percent of pantries, 83 percent of soup kitchens and 86 percent of shelters would be negatively affected. Every week the Food Depository serves 91,000 people in the city of Chicago. 37 percent are children, 8 percent are elderly and 32 percent are considered working poor (families with one or more working adults). The food comes from a variety of sources, including donations from local and national food companies, organized food drives and grants from the USDA and FEMA.

Here's how you can help:

-- For more information or to donate, visit ChicagosFoodbank.org.
-- To volunteer, contact the Volunteer Services Director at (773) 843-7296.
-- To host a food drive, visit their Web site or call (773) 843-7291.
-- For corporate food donations, call (773) 843-2847.
-- For cash donations, donate on their Web site or call (773) 843-5419.

We'll keep it short this Friday. Author's prerogative. We've spent a lot of this day celebrating our one-year anniversary on the air. We had a very nice lunch in one of our studios, at which I tried to express my thanks to the best team in our business. I expressed my frustration over the fact that our medium cannot "widen out" to show the audience the smart, talented, dedicated, loyal and brave folks who work so hard every day to get us on the air. I am so lucky to be their colleague, and equally lucky to call them all friends. I'd prefer to shift the focus to them, and the work they do, on occasions like this one.

We had planned all day to begin tonight's broadcast with the economy. The numbers of late have been truly positive, and good news for the administration. The President spoke on the topic today from the Rose Garden, no doubt hoping his words would dominate the news cycle. We later learned that an hour before his remarks, he was briefed on the news that was to be released later from Iraq: the U.S. lost 10 of its best today, Marines, all killed in Fallujah, where 11 other Marines were also wounded. We'll tell their story tonight and check on the status of what some have called a 'low-level' Civil War developing there.

Pete Williams has our piece on the death penalty tonight, Martin Savidge has a special story about pet rescues (and those still in peril) in the Gulf Region (a story of great importance to all of us who are pet lovers) and finally tonight: Kevin Tibbles on a former Marine General who these days is making a huge difference in people's lives.

I should not let an anniversary like this pass without thanking those who watch the broadcast that we work so hard to compile each day. Knowing you are watching makes it a great honor to come to work each day. We hope you'll join us for tonight's broadcast. Have a great weekend.

The holidays are in full swing. The papers are full of festive ads, as are television and radio.
For many of us a brief encounter with a Salvation Army bucket might be the only reminder we have that there are needy people out there.

But for Chicago's Mike Mulqueen, staring down urban poverty is a daily challenge. Mulqueen runs the Chicago Food Depository, a massive 11-acre facility that goes way beyond your average food bank. He's a former Marine Corps Brigadier General who now marshals a staff of 90 and 8,000 volunteers to fight the war on hunger. Forty million pounds of food pass through his warehouse every year. 310,000 men, women and children are fed annually. That's 84,000 meals a day... and that is every single day, not just during the holiday season.

When Mulqueen first got the job he admits he knew nothing about poverty or hunger; but he used the skills he learned in the military to organize an operation that is bigger than many businesses. In fact, he says, "It's a charity that is run like a business."

Why?

"Because (people) aren't gonna give money. They're not gonna give resources. They're not gonna support an organization that's inefficient."

Editor's note: Kevin will share much more about Mulqueen and how he's "Making a Difference" tonight on Nightly News.

It's a cliché to say that a devastated area looks like a bomb hit it. And to say  that New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward looks like a bomb hit it would, in fact, be a cliché. It would also be wrong. Likening this to a bombing would be an insult to Katrina and its victims. Katrina's destruction, and the collateral psychological damage it inflicted on an entire city, will be of far greater consequence than that of any conventional bomb.

For two nights this week, NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams broadcast from New Orleans, on Wednesday night from the Lower Ninth. It was my first visit to the Lower Ninth, though I had seen it many times. In the three months since Katrina hit, I have read or edited literally hundreds of scripts on New Orleans and watched many more pieces on the air, but nothing can prepare you for what awaits you as you cross the St. Claude Bridge over the Industrial Canal and descend into the Lower Ninth.

As I drove around, I had two mental hats on. One was that of a shocked gawker, staring slack-jawed at the utter destruction. The other was that of a television news producer. I kept making mental notes: Tell our crew about this street. No, no, tell them about that street. No wait, over there is even better. All until I realized there was no point in remembering any particular street or house; you could throw a dart at a map of the street grid and shoot anywhere. All was lost.

The farther away you are from the canal breach, the less obvious the damage. Houses remain standing, but one peek inside reveals they are mere shells. Move closer to the canal and the area begins to take on the look of some parallel universe. Twisted houses sit in the middle of the street, sometimes on top of cars. Many of the houses have a hole in the roof, the signature wound created when desperate people punched through from their attics to escape the rising water. There's a broken picket fence here, a set of rusted weights there, the detritus of a once thriving neighborhood. Move to the shadow of the canal breach and there is...nothing. Just cracked earth and dried wood. It is Banda Aceh, Indonesia, after the tsunami.

The houses bear the Mark of Katrina, the X spray painted by rescue and recovery teams. The quadrants of the X contain markings that any resident of New Orleans would recognize. Among them: the team that inspected the house, the date they got there, and, most chilling, the number of dead found inside. Most have zero's, but you don't have to go far to find a one or a two. On one house there was no number. Instead, it read, "Possible Body." What could they have seen? What could they have smelled?

The debate has now been joined over what to do about the Lower Ninth. Do you rebuild in that low lying area sure to flood again? If so, what kind of neighborhood should it be? And if not, where will the people go? There are no people there now; it is a silent, desolate moonscape. Still, not everyone has given up. Some houses bear a placard reading, "No bulldozing." But in much of the Lower Ninth, Katrina has already given its response. There's nothing left to bulldoze. 

One city resident whose house was badly damaged in another neighborhood by yet another canal breach, told me that in New Orleans the phrase, "How are you doing?" has been replaced by "How's your house?" For the people in the Lower Ninth, wherever they are now, there's no need to ask.

He's a former Brigadier General... now he's waging a war against hunger. And after 30 years in the Marines, he's turning a huge food bank into a well-oiled machine... and turning our perception of charity on its ear. Meet one of the few, the proud, the people who are "Making a Difference."

NEW ORLEANS - I found myself more emotionally moved by what I saw in the Lower Ninth Ward than I expected today. First, I didn't expect anywhere near the numbers that showed up and neither did the Red Cross. "Why come back?" we thought, "there's nothing left."

But of course I forgot the most compelling reason of all. To see for oneself. In many ways Katrina came rushing back today. Not just for the residents of the Ninth but for me as well. Just when you think all the tears have been cried post-Katrina there were plenty more as folks finally went home.

The policy is called "look and leave." The name sounds so simple and cold... as if one look could make a person want to turn their back on decades of living. You only get eight hours from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m. each day. Then you have to go. Nobody can stay overnight. You can come back tomorrow but only in daylight.

Some families brought U-Haul trucks... the sad truth is most don't have near enough left to fill them. For many in this part of New Orleans, it's sad but true, they can't go home again.

Back in New York after two nights in New Orleans. The lasting image of the trip for our traveling team might just be the very LAST image of the trip: the drive, last night, to the airport from our anchor location in the Lower Ninth Ward. We drove for blocks... miles, to be more accurate... through total darkness. Across the Industrial Canal and beyond it to the other side of the Mississippi, we could see the lights of the city. But navigating the Lower Ninth means cautious driving. There are no street signs. Some streets are blocked by 3-bedroom homes that have landed in intersections. Another street was blocked by a river barge the size of an office building. Debris hangs from the dead foliage in a ghostly way. Using the flashlight from my briefcase, we illuminated some of our surroundings while we drove. The spray-painted markings remain on the fronts of all structures... the search results, written in the code used by rescuers... including several indicating that fatalities had been found inside.  There are an increasing number of signs saying "DO NOT BULLDOZE" -- obviously the result of the fears, justified and imagined, of absentee homeowners who want to be the ones to decide whether or not to save their structures. For miles on end... no lights, no people, no animals, no life. The first light source we came upon was an open fire in an oil barrel, the only source of heat on a cold night for two U.S. Army Airborne soldiers in charge of the checkpoint used to enter and exit the Lower Ninth. They seemed happy to be able to wave and interact with someone. I must admit that two of us who made the trip are today feeling it in our respiratory systems. We were not as diligent as we should have been inside the Superdome and in the streets of the Lower Ninth. In both cases, the sludge has turned to dust and is now becoming airborne. The sludge contained human waste and chemicals. Full disclosure: producer Jean Harper brought along face masks, just as we were instructed to... but I guess we didn't fear air that we couldn't see. 

If the lineup we just approved at our afternoon editorial meeting holds up, we will begin tonight right back in New Orleans. Today was the first day back for residents of the Lower Ninth, three months and three days after Katrina. The story there seems to be that they have returned in greater numbers than anticipated. We'll examine what the turnout may mean when we turn to Martin Savidge's reporting tonight.

Andrea Mitchell will look at the "information offensive" in Iraq, specifically, the allegations concerning the placement of sympathetic (to the U.S. military cause) journalism in Baghdad newspapers.  We have an interesting piece tonight on information theft as well -- the pros who are HIRED by companies to intentionally break into their computer systems and see how easy it is to rob them blind.

This is a first as I write this: I am being "observed" in this process (in my office) by Howie Kurtz of the Washington Post. Howie's visits are how I know I have a major life event approaching. The last time he was in my office it was the eve of taking over the broadcast from Tom. Today's visit concerns tomorrow's one-year anniversary of that event, and for a time earlier, Tom was here with Howie and our newly-minted News Division President (our former Nightly News executive Producer) Steve Capus.

We'll conclude the broadcast tonight with something we found happening in the French Quarter in New Orleans during our visit. We hope you can join us.

We're doing a story on Nightly News tonight to go with World AIDS Day. Every time we consider this topic even the most experienced people on staff are amazed by the statistics... 3 million deaths a year, more than 40 million people in the world now infected with the virus. I suspect the reason is that it is truly difficult for anyone to comprehend the magnitude of this greatest plague ever. In addition to the report for Nightly News, I wrote a piece for the Web site that you can read here.

Few societies are doing an admirable job of coping with this disease. The World Health Organization had hoped to have 3 million people in poor countries on anti-retroviral drugs by the end of this year -- the actual number is less than a third of that. Even in the U.S., where the drugs are widely available, it is important to remember they are not a cure and the U.s. death rate from AIDS is 14,000 a year -- a number that has remained unchanged since 1998. I did my first report on AIDS for Nightly News in 1982 when the number of known cases in the entire world was fewer than 300. Who could imagine it would come to this?

He's a thief who's trying to steal your private information. But he's no criminal. He's paid to find holes in data security. With more than 9 million Americans victimized by identity theft each year, meet the man who is showing companies where their safeguards fall short.