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  • Castro, Unconvertible

    By Andy Franklin, NBC News senior producer

    Given the tempestuous relationship the United States has had with Fidel Castro over the past half-century, it seems remarkable that his reign finally ended not with a bang, but as Brian points out, something closer to a whimper. Castro took control in Cuba on New Year's Day, 1959 - just two days before Alaska became a state; that's how long he's been in power. Since then, until his resignation today, he's been a thorn in the side of ten U.S. Presidents. What follows are just some of the things they've had to say about him over the years. 

    I am certain this government and all the American people hope that [Castro's] government will be truly representative of the Cuban people, and that his Government will achieve the ability to reflect their views, their aspirations, and to encourage and help their progress.
    -- Dwight D. Eisenhower, January 28, 1959, three weeks after Castro took power

    The Government of the United States is hereby formally terminating diplomatic and consular relations with the Government of Cuba…There is a limit to what the United States in self-respect can endure. That limit has now been reached…Meanwhile, our sympathy goes out to the people of Cuba now suffering under the yoke of a dictator.
    -- Dwight D. Eisenhower, January 3, 1961

    A nation of Cuba's size is less a threat to our survival than it is a base for subverting the survival of other free nations throughout the hemisphere. It is not primarily our interest or our security but theirs which is now, today, in the greater peril. It is for their sake as well as our own that we must show our will.
    -- John F. Kennedy, April 20, 1961, during the failed Bay of Pigs invasion

    I think we're all concerned about Cuba and, as you know, we're taking a lot of steps to try to isolate Castro who we believe is going to eventually fall.
    -- John F. Kennedy, October 14, 1962 (as we later learned, this was the day that US reconnaissance photos revealed the presence of Soviet missiles in Cuba)

    It shall be the policy of this Nation to regard any nuclear missile launched from Cuba against any nation in the Western Hemisphere as an attack by the Soviet Union on the United States, requiring a full retaliatory response upon the Soviet Union.
    -- John F. Kennedy, October 22, 1962, at the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis

    I don't accept the view that Mr. Castro is going to be in power in five years. I can't indicate the roads by which there will be a change, but I've seen enough--as we all have--enough change in the last 15 years to make me feel that time will see Cuba free again.
    -- John F. Kennedy, April 19, 1963

    I do not think that there is any doubt that Fidel Castro, as a symbol of revolt in this hemisphere, has faded badly…his torch is flickering.
    -- John F. Kennedy, November 18, 1963, five days before his assassination

    I would like very much to see the free people of Cuba be able to govern themselves without the dictations of Mr. Castro. We are going to do everything that we consistently can in our policies to see that the people of Cuba are free people.
    -- Lyndon Johnson, August 29, 1964

    As far as Castro is concerned, he has already drawn the line. He is exporting revolution all over the hemisphere...As long as Castro is adopting an antagonistic, anti-American line, we are certainly not going to normalize our relations with Castro. As soon as he changes his line toward us, we might consider it. But it is his move.
    -- Richard Nixon, April 16, 1971

    Let me say categorically and emphatically, the United States will have nothing to do with Castro's Cuba - period.
    -- Gerald Ford, February 14, 1976

    The eagerness of large numbers of Cubans to flee their own country is eloquent testimony to the failure of the totalitarian Castro regime.
    -- Jimmy Carter, May 9, 1980

    Don't let anyone fool you: What's happening in Cuba is not a failure of the Cuban people; it's a failure of Fidel Castro and of communism…Let us pledge ourselves to the freedom of the noble, long-suffering Cuban people. Viva Cuba Libre. Cuba, si; Castro, no.
    -- Ronald Reagan, May 20, 1983

    Today freedom is on the offensive, and young idealists are no longer being taken in by Castro as they once were. You know, he's been a great illusionist, but only for a time.
    -- Ronald Reagan, July 23, 1986

    Russia is withdrawing the former Soviet brigade and…ending all subsidies to Cuba. Castro is on his own.
    -- George H.W. Bush, April 18, 1992

    Our policies and principles rest on a single belief: For freedom to rise in Cuba, Fidel Castro must fall.
    -- George H.W. Bush, October 23, 1992

    The United States had done more than any other country to try to bring an end to the Castro government…We have worked hard, often laboring almost alone to that end. And we will continue to do that by whatever reasonable means are available to us.
    -- Bill Clinton, August 19, 1994

    I have no sympathy for the Castro regime…I think it is tragic how they have blown every conceivable opportunity to get closer to the United States.
    -- Bill Clinton, January 18, 2000

    If Mr. Castro does not allow free elections, he will be protecting his cronies at the expense of his people. And eventually, despite all his tools of oppression, Castro will need to answer to his people.
    -- George W. Bush, May 20, 2002

    We'll continue to press for freedom on the island of Cuba. One day, the good Lord will take Fidel Castro away and then the question is, what will be the approach of the U.S. Government?
    -- George W. Bush, June 28, 2007

    The question really should be, what does this mean for the people in Cuba? They are the ones who suffered under Fidel Castro. They are the ones put in prison because of their beliefs. They are the ones who have been denied their right to live in a free society…I believe that the change from Fidel Castro ought to begin a period of a democratic transition…And we're going to help.
    -- George W. Bush today, on the news that Fidel Castro had resigned.

    Show more

  • Rwanda's long road back

    By Martin Fletcher, NBC News correspondent
     
    Editor's note: Due to political coverage, some areas of the country did not see Martin Fletcher's full report.  Click here to watch the entire segment.
     
    Could these be new laws in tiny Singapore? Plastic bags in the entire country are illegal, as part of the fight to save the environment. Use leads to a fine equal to 10 U.S. dollars. Same fine for smoking or spitting in public. Civil guards in red uniforms carry rifles to enforce the laws.

    On the last Saturday of each month, every citizen, including cabinet ministers and the President, must go outside and clean the streets. Each day, shopkeepers must sweep the sidewalk in front of their store. Paved streets in towns as well as dusty alleys in poor villages, and the highways in between, are spotless. A cigarette butt or old newspapers or abandoned coke cans on the ground are so rare as to be remarkable.

    Bikes and walking are encouraged over cars and buses. In the center of the capital, traffic flows easily even at peak times. A car blowing black exhaust fumes risks being impounded on the spot.

    OK, here's the punchline: It isn't Singapore, it's Rwanda. But on an African continent of desperately congested and polluted cities, why this startling emphasis on cleanliness here, in a country with so many other problems?

    Fourteen years after the genocide, when Hutus killed 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus in 100 days, Rwanda is still coming to terms with its months of madness. Local courts still try killers, who apologize and finger other killers still at large. But parallel to this ongoing purging of the psyche of an entire nation, is a cleansing of the physical world as well as of the inner one.

    It isn't only B.G. (Rwandans refer to life as B.G. and A.G. – Before the Genocide and After the Genocide.) Street cleaning was also mandatory B.G. But we sometimes forget that the 1994 Genocide was not the first, but the third, assault by the Hutus on the Tutsis in thirty-five years, so the physical purging element may still somehow be related to mass murders, only earlier ones.

    It's hard to assess in a brief visit how superficial or deep this purging is. Once a week, more than a million of Rwanda's 7 to 8 million citizens attend a Gacaca session, traditional courts that try suspected killers. Hundreds of thousands of Hutu killers and alleged killers have been tried, have apologized, have identified where they buried bodies, as well as fingered other killers, and have then been pardoned and returned to normal life, living alongside their Tutsi victims.

    But have the Hutus really repented? Have the Tutsis really forgiven them? Officially, and for the most part, it seems the answer is yes, for the simple reason that nobody has much choice. It's a small country, smaller than the state of Maryland, and Hutus and Tutsis are condemned to live together; although today officially the distinction is mute. B.G. identity cards bore the words Hutu or Tutsis, making it easy for Hutus to know who to kill. Today, all ID cards bear the same label: Rwandan.

    But at a Gacaca court, where prisoners wear pink uniforms to humiliate them, one onlooker sidled up to me and with a sidelong glance, volunteered "Don't believe all this, we have hatred in our hearts." I was startled at such an unsolicited confession, and he continued: "They say my brother killed Tutsis." He nodded at one of the three men in pink. "He wasn't in the country then. Me, I was in prison for eight years, and I did nothing." He introduced me to two other men who had repented in the Gacaca sessions, but now claimed to have been framed by jealous neighbors.

    Another man told me that in the capital Kigali, where there are many Tutsis, the Gacaca courts work well. But in distant villages, where there are only one or two Tutsi families among many Hutus (in Rwanda, less than ten per cent of the population are Tutsis, almost all the rest Hutu), the Hutus still threaten the lives of the Tutsis, who are too scared to point out who killed their families.

    Today the Tutsis have the upper hand, morally and politically, and the cleansing operation, on all levels, mostly proceeds well. But one worried man, sitting next to me on a bench as I observed activities at a health center, suddenly tapped me on the arm and confided that he had lost his wife and six brothers, all murdered in the genocide.
     
    "Yes, I have forgiven them," he answered me, "Anyway, nothing will bring my wife back. Yes, the Gacaca are good, they help us come to terms with the past, and they protect us too." But then he added, "When the government changes, what will happen in the future? The Hutus will win elections. What then?"

    An African proverb, along the lines of "You can clean the street but you can't change its direction" may be appropriate. If it doesn't exist, somebody should invent it for Rwanda.

  • Evelyne's story

    By Martin Fletcher, NBC News correspondent

    Editor's note: Martin Fletcher's report from Uganda airs on tonight's broadcast.

    There are two ways to approach Meeting Point Kampala, on the edge of Uganda's capital.
     
    You can walk past listless people in a filthy slum, up a small hill, through the swarms of mosquitoes by the rubbish dump, the one by the disused railway line, and continue along a dusty dirt road.

    Or you can avoid the slum altogether and drive directly along a paved road to the same destination. It is an orphanage, or, as some prefer to call it, a foster home. Again, it depends on your approach. Orphanage stresses the tragic loss of parental love; foster home emphasizes its replacement.

    I was reminded of these different ways of looking at the glass, half-empty or half-full, by a tiny, sad-eyed girl called Evelyne Katabesi, a child in the home, who you'd think could only be in pain.

    Evelyne is eight years old. Her mother and father both died of AIDS, and she takes a handful of pills twice a day to fight her own HIV. She was dumped here age two, on the point of death. For the medically-minded, her count was 18. Today, thanks to the care at the Meeting Point, it is 415. She has the sweetest, shy smile. But Evelyne is an AIDS orphan, and no family will take her.

    So she makes her own bed, washes her own clothes and sweeps the floor. She has one drawer in which she stuffs all her clothes and school books. To reach her shoes she has to climb on top of the cupboard. Yet you'd think she had been brought up in the best of homes. She curtsies as she shakes your hand and whispers "thank you" and "please."

    We accompanied her to school, where she sits in the front row, in her crisply clean uniform, which she ironed herself. Her favorite subject is mathematics and when you ask her what she wants to be when she grows up, Evelyne's tiny voice takes on a measure of pride: "I want to be a pilot."

    Her brown schoolbook has spaces for the pupil to write her name, the name of the school and the class. But Evelyne must be a Haiku poet, for she has turned these simple few lines into a window to her soul; as I read past Evelyne's name I understood what a depth of suffering, acceptance, and wisdom is contained inside this tiny little girl, whose life was written for her before birth. She wrote in the space for the school's name not Meeting Point School but: "Struggle." In the space for class: "Hope." In her other exercise books she had filled in all the spaces with one word: "Angels."

    "Evelyne, do you have dreams?" I asked her later that evening, as she prepared for bed. She had just hung up her socks, after rubbing them hard in soap and water, and was walking slowly to her room.
     
    "Yes." Her eyes glistened and she looked away.
     
    "What do you dream of?"
     
    "I dream of my mother."

    Instead, Evelyne lives with three social workers and 35 other children like her, ranging from Kenneth, aged 14 months, who vomited up his dinner and drugs, to boys and girls aged 15. The orphans, most of whom are HIV positive, sleep a dozen to a room.
     
    "Who is your best friend?" I asked Evelyne, whose face was lit by the orange glow of a wood fire outside.
     
    "Everyone is my best friend," she answered, looking down.
     
    "Yes," I said, and stroked her little head. I didn't know what to add.

  • The few, the proud

    By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor

    Right now the newsroom sounds like the reading room at the New York Public Library. It's the lull that happens at about this time every afternoon. It follows our editorial meeting - so while we may know where we're going, we're not quite ready to get there. Our correspondents' stories won't be coming in for a while yet. We often run out to briefly fuel up on coffee and start the first tentative writing, knowing there's a measurable chance that everything (or much of it) will change three more times before air.

    About today's political news, allow me to simply say: Ask not what Nightly News can do for you, ask what you can do for Nightly News. You can start by joining us tonight. We'll have the latest on the Obama/Clinton dustup over words (and their provenance and power) and the Bush 41 endorsement of John McCain. We'll have a great story out of Texas related to the JFK assassination (the reporting of it has been interesting...bordering on irresponsible in some quarters today, where the transcript of the "conversation" between Ruby and Oswald is concerned) and we have more than one instance of good reporting from Africa tonight.

    Watching yesterday's Daytona 500 was an unexpectedly emotional experience. As it was the 50th running of the classic, there were many retrospectives, none having more impact in our house than the tribute to Dale Earnhardt, whose absence still hurts every day. I'm looking at his photo in my office as I write this, showing both of Dale's hands on my son's shoulders, taken in the pits at Talladega years ago. His loss is still so fresh - it was hard to watch the great Darrell Waltrip lose control of his emotions during the pre-race show. I was happy for Roger Penske, without a win at Daytona until yesterday...when he got to see his guys finish first and second.

    We sure appreciate you joining us this holiday Monday night. I'm en route to the newsroom to make some noise.

  • Birth of a Nation

    by Lester Holt, NBC News Anchor


    With our focus on the protracted wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, it is hard to believe it was just nine years ago that U.S. forces were at war over the Serbian province of Kosovo. Today, with the United States and Western Europe behind it, Kosovo declared its independence. Not everyone, however, is celebrating. NBC's Stephanie Gosk will report tonight on why Russia quickly appealed to the U.N. Security Council to block Kosovo's independence. This is an important story that once again puts the Bush administration at sharp odds with Moscow, and we will have much more on Nightly News tonight.

    We're also in Wisconsin covering developments in the race for the Democratic Presidential nomination. Today bad weather affected campaigning, just two days before Tuesday's Clinton-Obama primary showdown.

    NBC's Chief Science Correspondent Robert Bazell will come on the program to update us about this particularly nasty flu season. 

    We also have a story about the driving boom in China, as more and more Chinese abandon their bicycles for cars. The surge of brand new drivers onto the road is turning some highways there into something more akin to a demolition derby. Mark Mullen will have that report from our Beijing bureau.

    I hope you can join us later for NBC Nightly News.

  • Faces of Murder

    by Lester Holt, NBC News Anchor

    We know Steven Kazmierczak carried out Thursday's murderous shooting spree at Northern Illinois University. What we don't know is, which Steven Kazmierczak committed the heinous act? The fun loving and dependable grad student, or the erratic young man friends had observed over the last few weeks? Tonight on Nightly News our Kevin Tibbles continues his reporting with fresh details on what police found in a motel that Kazmierczak had apparently slept in before his rampage that may help them understand his state of mind.

    Ron Allen is on the campaign trail with Hillary Clinton and will detail not only her effort to gain ground with voters, but also the fascinating behind-the-scenes battle between Clinton and Barack Obama for the support of Super Delegates. Those delegates are not bound to any candidate, and the question of whether they vote with their hearts, or with the prevailing political winds, may determine which candidate wins the nomination.

    Kevin Corke is with President Bush in Africa and reports on the conflict and instability that affects so many countries there, and what the President hopes to accomplish.

    A post 9/11 anti-terror law that allows the government to eavesdrop on foreign phone calls and emails that pass through the United States is set to expire tonight at midnight.  The White House says without that power the nation is at greater risk of attack, but Congressional Democrats are pushing back. NBC's Savannah Guthrie will join us from the White House tonight to explain what's at stake.

    We'll update the effort to shoot down that wayward satellite, take a look at what the NTSB is calling the growing risk of runway collisions, and tell you about the remarkable life of a high flying adventurer, who even in death, has left many in suspense.

    We hope you can join us tonight for NBC Nightly News.

  • Bring it to an end

    By Brian Williams,  Anchor and managing editor

    I'm anxious to bring this week to an end, at least in terms of wanting the hurt to go away for the Northern Illinois University community, and the families of the victims. What an awful thing in our society. While I'm quite sure that having a daughter in college amplifies my own feelings, I grieve for these families as if they were my closest friends.

    Tonight we'll look at the very latest from there, and what we know about the investigation -- as well as politics and the rest of the day's news, including our Making a Difference segment.

    Another day, another Bono clip: I was proud to be in attendance last night at Sotheby's as the "Red" charity auction set a record at more than 40 million dollars in pledged income from the auction of modern art.

    It was a thrilling evening even BEFORE Bono chose to sing for us at the end.

    Image: Bono at The (RED) Auction to benefit AIDS in Africa hosted by Sotheby.

    To Stephanie, who wrote about L.L. Bean in Maine (versus the upstart Cabela's) -- Stephanie, please know that my brother lived in Freeport for many years (not far from Olympic marathoner Joan Benoit Samuelson), and I go back with Bean as far as the rickety old wooden steps. My first memory of the place was the summer of 1966, when I caught my first fish in Casco Bay. I was just there a few months ago and could not believe it when I heard a Cabella's was coming to town. So much for leaving well enough alone! Surely the nation is big enough for each to have its own territory!

    Also on tonight's broadcast: please join us in wishing Nightly News a happy 60th birthday!

    Have a wonderful weekend. I'm off to get two days of rest, and maybe clean out the exhaust system of my Mustang. Please join my friend Lester Holt here this weekend, and look for us again on Monday night.

  • A tribute, a cappella

    By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor

    Below I've supplied a link to quite a dramatic moment on Capitol Hill today. It happened at the memorial service for California Democratic Tom Lantos, a holocaust survivor who died earlier this week of cancer. Remember as you watch this that Tom Lantos devoted his life to human rights. He was a modest man -- remembered today as a towering moral figure -- perfectly fitting what Secretary Condoleezza Rice called him upon his death: "An American hero." Our friend Bono was among the eulogists, and he did so bravely and beautifully.

    I saw a few overnight emails complaining about our choice of the lead story last night -- the Roger Clemens testimony. Point taken. Reasonable people can disagree. I received another complaint about my comments on today's Hall of Fame-bound baseball players -- saying I was expressing an opinion in my choice not to count their numbers alongside the greats of the earlier era. Quick: can anybody compare Hank Aaron's numbers, homer for homer, with Bonds? I didn't think so.

    DO YOU GET THE CATALOG?

    A story I did during the last election cycle has come back around -- in fact it's more true today than when I did it. The key to the remaining big primary states for Hillary Clinton is Cabella's -- the store and those who shop there. Clinton needs those voters. Tim Russert has another label for this specific demographic group, as he put it Tuesday night on MSNBC: "White guys with guns and boats." Those of us who love Cabella's and love being on the mailing list "get" the kind of people the store attracts. If you haven't been to a Cabella's, you're missing something. That their store parking lots have RV hookups is telling. Many families treat a trip to Cabella's as a destination vacation (the average store stay is close to four hours -- it's an event) and they have a passionate customer base. They can also be passionate voters -- and quite possibly the key to Senator Clinton's possible future success against Obama.

    There is quite a powerful piece by Karen Tumulty in the new TIME magazine about Hillary -- it includes this paragraph:

    This is not the race that Clinton thought she would be running. Her campaign was built on inevitability, a haughty operation so confident it would have the nomination wrapped up by now that it didn't even put a field organization in place for the states that were to come after the megaprimary on Feb. 5. Clinton's positions, most notably her support for the Iraq invasion and her refusal to recant that vote, were geared more to battling a Republican in the general election than to winning over an angry Democratic base clamoring for change. Not until last fall did she seem to acknowledge that she faced opposition in the Democratic primaries, so focused was her message on George W. Bush and the GOP.

    That gives you some idea.

    A FUNNY THING HAPPENED

    Finally, a set piece: I was in the Reagan Library last weekend, stealing a few minutes alone to spend some time looking at the exhibits. Just when I thought I had pulled off an anonymous walk through the teeming facility, a woman ran up to me and interrupted the silence. "I just had to come over and say hello," she said. I thanked her for her warm wishes. As she departed, she added, "My husband and I just LOVE your work, Mr. Jennings."

    If only Peter were around to enjoy that story.

    We have all bases covered in tonight's broadcast...a lot of politics, in keeping with today's developments and the high season. Happy Valentine's Day. We thank you all for joining us.

  • Helping Amenah

    Editor's note:  A fund has been established to help Amenah, the young Iraqi girl featured in Martin Savidge's Nightly News segment. 

    Here is the information:
    Amenah Fund
    c/o Grace Chapel
    3279 Southall Road
    Franklin, TN 37064

    Watch Martin Savidge's segment

     

  • Trapped by the testimony

    By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor

    It is an awful, rainy, grim, windy, raunchy day here in New York. The mistake I made this morning was not leaving my apartment before the Clemens testimony started, and then I got trapped. I couldn't stop watching. My teenage son, home on a snow day and a pitcher in high school, was watching as well. Roger Clemens is a guy we have rooted for, a guy we have cheered for -- and there's a chance he is lying to Congress. There's also a chance, of course, that his accuser is doing that. Is it necessarily that cut and dried? One or the other? I suppose other, more benign factors, like cognitive dissonance, may play a role -- and it could be a combination of factors. But it was not a proud day for baseball in Congress. As one member of the Committee attempted to point out today, it wasn't a proud day for Congress, either: this House Committee, which is meant to have drug enforcement oversight, instead allowed today's hearing to become a personal, two-man affair -- charges and counter-charges, photos, quotes, stories of parties, babysitters, glutes, slacks and all sorts of things. And what about Andy Pettitte?

    FUZZY MATH

    I did a video blog a while back about the caution we use when handling exit polls and calling elections. I was reminded today why we take such great care in reporting the exit poll numbers, which when repeated often enough can become free-standing truths. For example, after much examination, we're not recognizing (using as justification or illustration for any story on election trends) last night's "Hispanic vote" sample in both Maryland and Virginia, as the raw number of voters was under 50 in each case. There was some bad sampling in the Massachusetts primary as well, which led to the reporting of some numbers that were downright counter-intuitive and likely wrong. PICTURE OF THE DAY

    Image: Mayor C. Ray Nagin and NOPD Superintendent Warren J. Riley
    Eliot Kamenitz, The Times-Picayune

    This is courtesy the New Orleans Times Picayune. That's Police Superintendent Warren Riley and Mayor Ray Nagin of New Orleans. Any of you who've been trained in the handling and use of firearms notice anything wrong here? Just asking.

    ALSO...

    Amanda, thanks for channeling Bing. And how about that Uno? What a good dog. We'll pay tribute to that proud beagle tonight, along with the rest of the news. We sure appreciate you joining us.

  • Congo: Suffering, but still hopeful

    By Ann Curry, NBC News Anchor                        

    She was stunningly beautiful, this 18-year-old girl lying on the operating table.

    We knew she had been brutally raped. Only today did we find out even that was not the worst of it. She had just turned 17 when the soldiers attacked, killing her mother and father as she watched.

    Even now, two years later, she says, "It was not possible for me to mourn my parents because I myself was almost dead."

    The soldiers had chased her down and kept her for two days, raping her until she was broken.

    "I couldn't move. There were many men. I couldn't count. My right leg was paralized.  They left me for dead in the forest.  I could not imagine what would be my future."


    Her rapists had made her pregnant, but her body was so damaged and her baby was stillborn, leaving her unable to control her bodily functions.

    In the hospital, with tears falling from her eyes, she said she can't stop asking herself  what happened to her happy life.

    "I don't know how I became an orphan. I don't know how this happened to me."  

    She also thinks a lot of her mother and father.
     
    "If my parents were alive, especially my mother, I would not be alone here.  I want to live with my aunt and experience her mothering of me. I thank God for doctors and nurses who took care of me." 

    Her doctors are her angels now. Today, one told her it looks like the damage will be repaired.  Someday this may all be a distant nightmare. 

    After all she has endured, she can still say, "I am still hoping for a bright future."

    Click here to find out how you can help.

    To learn more about the situation, click here. To see a slideshow of photos from producer Antoine Sanfuentes, click here. 

    If you have a question for Ann Curry about her time and reporting in Congo, please leave a comment below. Ann will answer them tomorrow on Nightly.msnbc.com.

  • Fallen but not forgotten: Closing in on 4,000 casualties

    By John Rutherford, Producer, NBC News, Washington

    As the death toll in Iraq closes in on 4,000 American casualties, there is disagreement over how many U.S. troops have actually died in the war. Officially, as of Feb. 13, the Pentagon said 3,958 service members had been killed in Iraq. But icasualties.org, which tracks war deaths, says the following five soldiers died from injuries suffered in Iraq but are not included in the Pentagon's total:

    1. Army Sgt. John "Bill" Smith of Gaffney, S.C., injured his shoulder in December 2004 when a car bomb exploded near his Humvee in Iraq. Smith had surgery on his shoulder in September 2005, but his family said complications set in afterward with his blood pressure medication. Smith went into cardiac arrest and died Oct. 1, 2005. He leaves a wife and two children.

    2. Army Spc. Raymond Salerno III of Land O'Lakes, Minn., suffered third-degree burns on his hands, arm, and leg when his Bradley fighting vehicle hit a roadside bomb north of Baghdad in October 2005. He was recovering and went for observation to Brooke Army Medical Center in Texas, where his heart failed and he died unexpectedly on July 16, 2006, at age 27.

    3. Army Staff Sgt. Jack Richards, originally from Broken Arrow, Okla., nearly lost a leg in 2004 when a roadside bomb exploded near his Humvee in Iraq. He underwent several surgeries on his leg and was on a machine that administered morphine as part of his treatment. He was found dead at his Fort Bragg, N.C., home on July 29, 2007, at the age of 39.

    4. Army Sgt. Gerald Cassidy of Indiana suffered brain injuries in a roadside bombing in Iraq in June 2006. He arrived at Fort Knox, Ky., with blinding headaches, memory and hearing loss, and post-traumatic stress disorder. He was found dead in his room on Sept. 21, 2007. He may have been unconscious for days before his body was discovered.

    5. Army Sgt. 1st Class Raymond Wasielewski died Oct. 8, 2007, at his home in Ladysmith, Wis., where he was recovering from severe back injuries suffered in a roadside bombing in Ramadi, Iraq, in May 2007. Wasielewski, 50, had undergone surgery and was treated for several months at military hospitals before being discharged a month before he died.

    I asked the Pentagon for an explanation of why these five soldiers are not included in the official count of Iraq war deaths. I received a reply from LtC. Jonathan Withington, a Pentagon press officer.

    "This has apparently been addressed in the past," he wrote. "The Army has reviewed the deaths of these soldiers and determined that they did not die as the result of wounds suffered supporting OIF [Iraq] or OEF [Afghanistan]."

    Visit Field Notes for an update on Boris and Mama, the two stray Iraqi dogs adopted by Sgt. Peter Neesley. After Neesley's death, his family was trying to bring Boris and Mama to America.

    Click here to view tributes to the 62 American troops killed this year in Iraq and Afghanistan, including the following 15 casualties from last week:

    1. Navy Chief Petty Officer Michael Koch, 29, of State College, Pa.

    2. Navy Chief Petty Officer Nathan Hardy, 29, of Durham, N.H.

    3. Army Spc. Christopher West, 26, of Arlington, Texas.

    4. Army Sgt. Rafael Alicea Rivera, 30, of Bayamon, Puerto Rico.

    5. Army Staff Sgt. Donald Tabb, 29, of Norcross, Ga.

    6. Army Spc. Miguel Baez, 32, of Bonaire, Ga.

    7. Army Sgt. John Osmolski, 23, of Eustis, Fla.

    8. Army Sgt. Timothy Van Orman, 24, of Port Matilda, Pa.

    9. Army Sgt. Bradley Skelton, 40, of Gordonville, Mo.

    10. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Luis Souffront, 25, of Miami.

    11. Army Pfc. Jack Sweet, 19, of Alexandria Bay, N.Y.

    12. Army Spc. Michael Manibog, 31, of Alameda, Calif.

    13. Army Sgt. Timothy Martin, 27, of Pixley, Calif.

    14. Army Staff Sgt. Jerald Whisenhunt, 32, of Orrick, Mo.

    15. Army Sgt. Gary Willett, 34, of Alamogordo, N.M.

    Washington Producer John Rutherford is a decorated Vietnam veteran. He posts a weekly tribute to service members killed in Iraq and Afghanistan and also files stories on the military at www.fieldnotes.msnbc.com (click on "John Rutherford" under "categories").

  • Snowy Tuesday

    By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor

    It's as good a name as any other for this day...what with various networks trying to dub it "Chesapeake Tuesday" or the "Potomac Primary," as voters go to the polls in Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia. We are watching a steady snowfall out our windows here in New York, preparing for our first glimpse of how the vote is going.

    I also have an eye on the weather radar in Louisiana and Mississippi -- thinking of our friends along the coast in Waveland, where they just suffered through a very intense storm. We had a good hour earlier today on MSNBC, when Bob Dole, among others, was kind enough to join us.

    Our computers are on the fritz right now, so I'm writing this while flying blind (it's 1980 in my office -- I can't get on the internet, but I hear it's just great). And since most of what we'll end up reporting tonight during our various live feeds of Nightly News will be decided as the evening goes on...we'll leave it at that for now.

    Tim is here in New York with us, and all of our correspondents are in place for another interesting night in this unpredictable election cycle. We hope you can join us for all of it. For those of you on the West Coast, we'll be on live tonight not only to update political results, but the vote in the writers' strike as well.

  • Genetic tests: Approach with caution

    By Robert Bazell, NBC News chief science correspondent

    One of the most important lessons I've learned in many years of reporting on health and science is that the advice to talk to your doctor – routinely offered up by government officials and others when a complex issue arrives – can be close to useless.

    No doubt physicians know a lot.  But they can't know everything – and especially in fields that have developed rapidly after they completed their training.

    Nowhere is this more apparent than in the issue we are covering tonight in the second part of our series, "Who We Are: The Truth about DNA."  Genetic tests for hundreds of diseases are now hitting the market place and many of the companies have been advertising them directly to the public and heavily to physicians.

    The problem is, correctly interpreting the results can be complex and difficult.  Many physicians simply don't know how to, and the consequences can be dire.  Women who test positive for a breast cancer gene, for example, often elect to have their breasts and ovaries surgically removed.  But a negative test can give a false sense of security that might lead a woman to forgo routine mammograms that could have detected early breast cancer and saved her life.  Moreover, the breast cancer gene test, which costs more than $3000, is often simply not necessary.

    The  biggest seller and advertiser of the tests is Myriad Genetics.  Its CEO, Dr. Gregory Kritchfield, tells me the company advertises because "We feel a tremendous obligation from a public health perspective to get the information in the hands of individuals so that they can have the appropriate medical interventions take place."

    But Ellen Matloff, a genetic counselor at Yale, says "If you watch these ads on TV, you would think that you're a candidate for this test, even if your neighbors had breast cancer and you're just concerned about getting it. And that's a misnomer. It's not accurate."

    Lax government regulation
    At least there is no argument about the accuracy of the tests from Myriad Genetics.  Dozens of other companies are selling tests which many scientists say can be inaccurate and lack value for predicating much about genetic diseases. There is a frightening lack of government regulation.

    Even with a good test, there are potential pitfalls.  The results, as Matloff points out, is "not a yes or no answer like a pregnancy test," but rather a series of subtleties.

    One of the biggest challenges is that if you take a genetic test, it can affect your parents, children, brothers and sisters even cousins.  Do they know you are taking the test? Do they want you to share the information with them and will they know what it means? Do you want to share it?

    Because of all of these and many other complexities, experts in genetic medicine advise that everyone gets competent counseling BEFORE they decide to take a test. 

    You can certainly get counseling from some doctors.  But look that doctor in the eye and ask if he or she is truly understands the issues and is comfortable with the counseling.

    Another option is to find a certified genetic counselor. These are people who are trained to understand the results and are likely the best qualified . You can find one from their certifying organization, the National Society of Genetic Counselors (http://www.nsgc.org/)

    Genetic testing for diseases is an area where the science is far ahead of society's ability to handle it.

     

    Editor's note: Robert Bazell's report on the growing number of genetic tests airs tonight on the broadcast. Tomorrow night, he takes an in-depth look at how DNA evidence is shaking up the world of forensic science. Read a preview here.

  • If it's Monday...

    By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor

    I am back East after a whirlwind West Coast trip: an overnight flight west Thursday night, followed by Nightly News from LA on Friday, followed by the Tonight Show, followed by an evening at the Reagan Library. Saturday was devoted to a gala event for the Medal of Honor recipients. (As I've mentioned here before, I serve as a Foundation board member.) Another overnight flight back home, arriving Sunday morning -- and there went the weekend. Okay, I watched the Grammys. Okay, a digression: it was great to see The Killer -- the one and only Jerry Lee Lewis. I was happy for Herbie, overjoyed to see Feist, and held my breath during Winehouse. Just like everybody else. I guess Amy felt "Blake" sounded enough like "baby" to insert her incarcerated hubby's name not just in one...but in two songs. Aretha and Alicia Keys were spectacular as was Rhapsody in Blue. And how about Vince Gill calling out Kanye? It was as if he immediately realized the potential consequences.

    About the Reagan Library: I had a delightful time with Mrs. Reagan. I was fortunate enough to escort her all evening long, and we enjoyed a wonderful dinner together. At the end of the evening, after we said our farewells, I was allowed a special privilege: in the darkness, lit only by a crescent moon, I walked out to President Reagan's final resting place. I stood before his tomb, which we first became familiar with during his funeral coverage four years ago, and I looked out at what has become his eternal view. The President's grave faces West -- over the mountainous countryside of the State he loved so much, all the way out to a point in the darkness where the twinkling lights give way to the pitch black of the Pacific Ocean. It was a singular moment, and as a student of history and the Presidency who watched the Reagan years play out in Washington, it was an honor to stand there and take it all in.

    We have a great broadcast for you tonight. Thanks for watching, reading and writing. We appreciate it.

  • If It's Sunday, It Must Be...

    by Lester Holt, NBC News anchor

    Don't put away your delegate calculators. The state of Maine rounds out this busy weekend of primaries and caucuses with its Democratic contest today, but the candidates have already moved ahead to the next battlegrounds in Washington D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. Our Lee Cowan is watching it all, including the three Clintons on the stump today, hoping to produce a much needed win for the New York Senator in Virginia.

    On Nightly News tonight, we will also take a closer look at where the Republican race stands on the heels of Mike Huckabee's wins in Kansas and Louisiana. John McCain has been wearing the title of presumptive nominee since last Tuesday, and Huckabee had a lot to say about that during an appearance on 'Meet the Press' this morning. You'll hear some of that in Ron Allen's report.

    If you find yourself downloading movies and TV episodes off the Internet, then you will appreciate how the business model has rapidly changed for TV and movie studios.  Who makes money off this growing revenue stream? That question was at the center of the dispute between producers and striking writers, and has apparently been resolved this weekend. NBC's Michael Okwu will report on why it was such a big deal, and what happens next.

    Maria Bartiromo from CNBC stops by to talk about what drove the Dow to its worst week in five years, and what we can expect this week.

    Mark Mullen reports on growing market for tobacco products.

    Let me also note that tomorrow I will reprise my role as host of the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show on the USA Network. This will be my third year at the show, and as a dog lover, I'm thrilled that they asked me back. To get back into the swing of things, I stopped by the Pennsylvania Hotel in Manhattan yesterday, where a thousand owners and their dogs are staying this week.  On our program tonight, I'll share some of the pictures and show you some of the lengths the hotel has gone to in order to make the show pooches feel right at home in the Big Apple.

    I hope you can join us later for NBC Nightly News.

  • Sad Journey

    by Lester Holt, NBC News anchor

    Hello from New York. I returned home yesterday from Tennessee where I covered the aftermath from Tuesday's barrage of deadly tornadoes. No matter how many natural disasters I have covered over the years, I am always struck at the capricious nature of tornadoes. On the left I would see a house in total shambles and there a few hundred feet to the right, another house would be sitting virtually untouched. The stories of those who survived and those who perished were equally random and hard to comprehend. None more so, then the story I reported Thursday of a young mother who died as she took refuge in a bathtub, holding her 11-month old son in her arms. As you probably know by now, the mother died, and the baby was found in a field alive. The physical and emotional recovery from the storms will no doubt take quite some time, and our thoughts continue to be with those affected. Ron Mott will continue our reporting tonight from hard hit Macon County, Tennessee, with one man's story of facing death in the eye.

    Meantime, we are once again in election night mode around here today. There are 5 presidential nominating contests today, and one tomorrow, putting more delegates up for grabs in this one weekend then there were the entire month of January. When you consider that Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, are, by our count, separated by only 6 delegates, this is yet another critical day on the road to the White House. Mike Huckabee will be the first to remind us the Republican race is not over yet. Huckabee picked up another win today in Kansas. On Nightly News tonight we'll let you hear what Huckabee said about the future of his campaign.

    There has been a tentative agreement between striking writers and TV and movie studios, though the strike has not yet been officially ended. Our Peter Alexander is working the story from our Los Angeles bureau, and will tell us how quickly the studios might be able to gear up and get your favorite shows back on the air.

    We're following the tragedy of that Georgia sugar refinery explosion. Imperial Sugar Company was the largest employer in the small town of Port Wentworth. Our Martin Savidge says almost everyone there knows someone who works at the plant, or depends on it for their own livelihood. Tonight Martin will look at what happens when a company town is struck by something of this magnitude.

    Also tonight we'll look at the weakening American dollar and why some American businesses are now courting the all mighty Euro.
     
    Thanks for checking in.  We'll look for you later on NBC Nightly News.

  • California taping

    By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor

    We're at our NBC News Los Angeles bureau tonight -- I'm here because of a gala event this weekend at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library honoring our Medal of Honor recipients. Because I serve on the Board of the Medal of Honor Society Foundation, and because I had plans to stop by for a taping of Jay Leno tonight, we combined the two. While it has yet to happen as of the time of this writing, I think I can promise a lump in the throat -- a very emotional moment -- when these men, seated in the Tonight Show audience, rise to accept the applause of the studio audience. It is always a thrilling sight when people realize there are genuine heroes in their midst. It is so generous of Jay to feature these men tonight, and I'm thrilled to have the opportunity to do so before a national audience.

    To Stephanie -- thanks for pointing out my error. That was my writing, and I must have hurriedly referred to that cute, fortunate little boy as "it" -- I sure didn't mean to. To the writer who posted about Ingrid Michaelson: I have it. It's a truly good disc -- and may I counter-recommend "A Fine Frenzy," especially the song "Come On, Come Out" -- man, can she sing.

    We have a very full broadcast tonight -- sadly, its due to way too much bad news from around our nation and our world. The political situation continues to roil along, and we'll have that covered, too. We have a great Making A Difference report tonight, and as we've come to the end of another eventful week of news, allow me to thank you all for writing and watching. We truly appreciate it, as we wish you all a good weekend. We'll see you again on Monday night from New York.

  • The sounds of silence

    By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor

    What a wild day here -- it started with a special report on the NBC Television Network on our confirmation that Romney had decided to drop out of the race. We got on the air and got off, despite the fact that through a technical fluke, I could hear nothing. I threw a question to Tim Russert, and I knew I could talk again only after I saw his lips stop moving. What I didn't know was: once off the air for the NBC television stations, I was then plugged into MSNBC, live. And silent. Luckily, my friend Chris Matthews was there to pick up the baton. I only got about 50 e-mails afterwards from well-meaning friends, all of them along the lines of: "Did you know you were on television just then?" Kind of.

    What a fascinating day to sit down in front of a warm t.v. and watch the various speakers appearing before CPAC in Washington. The Romney speech was a truly interesting moment, as was McCain much later in the day.

    EXTRAS

    On the topic of Romney, did anyone see Letterman's riff on same last night?

    Must reading for today: the New York Times page-one piece on Dr. Robert Jarvik.

    Must listening for lovers of new music: Vampire Weekend. They are a small New York City (mostly club) band made up of Columbia University grads. Warning to people of a certain age: the album is loosely themed after "Graceland" by Paul Simon (okay, on some songs, its an unmistakable style lift) and will make those 45 and older feel...much older. The hookiest song, Oxford Comma, happens to have an F-bomb in it -- four words into it, and again later -- so regard this as a language warning for those upset by this sort of thing.

    And do not miss what Jon Stewart did with the Super Tuesday coverage, as only Jon can do.

    I leave tonight for L.A., where we'll anchor Nightly News tomorrow night and where I will go on Jay Leno tomorrow with some very important friends of mine.

    We have a great broadcast planned for tonight -- politics, weather, the mob, more politics -- and stuff we'd just as soon keep close to the vest.

    We sure appreciate you joining us tonight.

  • Sic transit

    By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor

    Amid the political barbs, compliments and comments on the blog, there was this when I came in this morning: 

    ha bryan I think mccaine will beat hirry clintin in a land slide

    I must say, given the nature of this campaign so far, it's as sage as any other prognostication. What a night, especially when you consider the news story that broke while we were in the midst of our special coverage. We knew all day -- going back to our morning editorial meeting -- that a weather system (two opposing, violent extremes) was setting up in the Mississippi River valley that was going to get rough. We just didn't know how rough it was going to be. We will have complete coverage of the weather, and last night's political twister: McCain's solidification, Huckabee's second (or is it third?) surge, Romney's status, Clinton's gains and Obama's as well. What a time to be alive and love politics.

    We did eight hours in the chair last night. While I'm sorry that because of the need to do four straight, live one-hour versions of Nightly News in all time zones meant that we could not be on wall-to-wall on the Network, I think our hour in prime time was the hour to be on -- and Tim and I will re-live a few of those moments tonight. We sure appreciate you watching -- and writing in -- and we'll be at it again tonight.

  • Happy birthday to our last WWI vet

    by Andy Gross, NBC News Producer, Washington

    With the death of Harry Landis in Sun City, Florida this week, the United States now has one surviving veteran of World War One.

    070523_frankcloseup_hmed_1230pHis name is Frank Buckles and last May correspondent Bob Faw and I had the privilege of spending the day with Frank Buckles at his farm in West Virginia for a story that aired on Memorial Day for Nightly News. 

    Here is a link to my original blog that I wrote almost a year ago, when there were still three veterans of the war left.

    Now it's just Frank, out on his farm surrounded by his memories and his family. On Friday, Feb. 1st, he turned 107.

    Happy Birthday, Frank Buckles.

    Photo caption: Frank Buckles on his porch in West Virginia. The red ribbon he's wearing is the Legion of Honor, France's highest military award, given to him for his service in France during WWI. Photo copyright David DeJonge, used with permissionDeJonge Studio.

  • Fallen but not forgotten: Destructive toll

    By John Rutherford, Producer, NBC News, Washington

    Roadside bombs continue to wreak havoc on American troops in Iraq, accounting for seven of 10 combat deaths last week, including five in one explosion. But the bombs' destructive toll is not just limited to those who are killed. Army Sgt. Juan Roldan, 23, of Paterson, N.J., describes what it's like to survive a roadside bombing. He was caught in a bomb's blast while on patrol in Baghdad on Dec. 29, 2006.

    "You don't know what's going to happen, so once the explosion happened, I was out of it," he said. "I woke up around .. I started gaining some consciousness around early March, so it took awhile, as far as I remember, but obviously I was awake prior to that."

    Roldan's wife, Sgt. E-5 Nancy Roldan, picks up his story from there.

    Image: U.S. Army Sergeant Juan Roldan-Jaramillo holds his 9 month daughter Bryana, after recieving the Purple Heart during a ceremony at Walter Reed Medical Center."He was in a coma for two weeks," she said. "He woke up 18 January. He was heavily medicated, went through a lot of surgery, so he doesn't remember anything, any time being in the [intensive care unit], and that's a good thing."

    That's because Roldan lost both legs and suffered other injuries in the explosion. He continues to recuperate over a year later at Walter Reed Army Medical Center with the help of Nancy and their infant daughter, Bryana.

    Click here to view a tribute to the 47 U.S. troops who've died since Jan. 1 in Iraq and Afghanistan, including the following 11 casualties from last week:

    1. Army Maj. Alan Rogers, 40, of Hampton, Fla.

    2. Army Sgt. Mikeal Miller, 22, of Albany, Ore.

    3. Army Staff Sgt. Gary Jeffries, 37, of Roscoe, Texas.

    4. Army Sgt. James Craig, 26, of Hollywood, S.C.

    5. Army Spc. Evan Marshall, 21, of Athens, Ga.

    6. Army Pfc. Brandon Meyer, 20, of Orange, Calif.

    7. Army Pvt. Joshua Young, 21, of Riddle, Ore.

    8. Army 1st Lt. David Schultz, 25, of Blue Island, Ill.

    9. Army Cpt. Michael Norman, 36, of Killeen, Texas.

    10. Army Spc. Matthew Straughter, 27, of St. Charles, Mo.

    11. Army Staff Sgt. Chad Barrett, 35, of Fountain, Colo.

    Washington Producer John Rutherford is a decorated Vietnam veteran. He posts a weekly tribute to service members killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

  • A Tuesday like no other

    By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor

    First things first.  While I explained it on the air last night, it either wasn't enough or some of our viewers didn't hear the following: Last night's interview segment was supposed to be with Senators Obama and Clinton. We taped the Obama interview in the afternoon (via remote from New Jersey) and we were all set up to interview Senator Clinton (via remote from Boston or in person in New York) when at the last minute, the Clinton campaign could not fit the interview in the Senator's schedule. Cameras were all set up and it just didn't happen. It was nobody's fault, and there was nothing more sinister at work, as the Clinton campaign will tell you.

    Now to tonight: I've posted a video explaining how the two sides of our operation will work. We're geared up -- there's only so much of this you can plan, beyond the live guests we've asked to talk to. Tim and I will be in the chair roughly eight hours: from 6:30pm ET to 2:30am ET, both of us doing what we love. The truth? You'd have to pry us out of the studios attached to our chairs, like that classic photo of the chairman of J.C. Penney.  We're doing fresh, live versions of Nightly News for all four domestic time zones, then an hour long special report on the network at 10pm Eastern and Pacific -- in addition to appearances on MSNBC. Now we wait, now we watch. What an important night in American politics. We appreciate you joining us for all or part of it.

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