After a September 11 Washington Post article reported that a classified assessment by the Marine Corps intelligence chief in Iraq had described that country's Anbar province as “lost,” NBC's Nightly News with Brian Williams was the only evening network news broadcast to report the story. To date, ABC's World News with Charles Gibson and CBS' Evening News with Katie Couric have not mentioned the story.

The Post article stated that "[t]he chief of intelligence for the Marine Corps," Col. Pete Devlin, submitted an “unusual secret report” that “prospects for securing [Iraq's] western Anbar province are dim and that there is almost nothing the U.S. military can do to improve the political and social situation there.” The Post did not obtain a copy of the August 16 report, but collected assessments from military officers and other officials. Devlin's assessment has since been widely reported. The Post article noted that an Army officer said the report suggested that "[w]e haven't been defeated militarily [in Anbar] but we have been defeated politically -- and that's where wars are won and lost." The article also reported that "[a]nother person familiar with the report said it describes Anbar as beyond repair; a third said it concludes that the United States has lost in Anbar." Further, the Post asserted that the report's “conclusions are striking because ... the U.S. military has tended to maintain an optimistic view: that its mission is difficult, but that progress is being made.”

In contrast with the nightly news programs on ABC and CBS, the September 12 broadcast of NBC's Nightly News covered the story. Host Brian Williams introduced NBC's report by stating that “U.S. forces are apparently preparing to walk away from a big part of Iraq, the hugely important Anbar province.” NBC News chief Pentagon correspondent Jim Miklaszewski reported that "[a] new military intelligence report offers up the most pessimistic assessment yet of the military prospects for al-Anbar province" and that "[t]he top-secret report" stated “that there's no chance the U.S. military can end insurgent violence in al-Anbar.” Miklaszewski added that the report “said there were never enough American troops in al-Anbar province from the very beginning.”

Although ABC's World News with Charles Gibson did not cover the report on Anbar province, ABC News chief White House correspondent Martha Raddatz did question White House press secretary Tony Snow about the report during a September 12 press briefing. Raddatz noted that “a senior Marine intelligence officer” had said that “if you did not get more troops” in Anbar province, “the situation would continue to deteriorate.” She asked, “Are they gonna get more troops there? How are you going to stop it?” Snow eventually responded: "[I]f the president gets a recommendation from the combatant commanders to send more troops to al-Anbar province, they will get them." ABC broadcast the press briefing live on the afternoon of September 12.

From a September 11 article in The Washington Post:

The chief of intelligence for the Marine Corps in Iraq recently filed an unusual secret report concluding that the prospects for securing that country's western Anbar province are dim and that there is almost nothing the U.S. military can do to improve the political and social situation there, said several military officers and intelligence officials familiar with its contents.

The officials described Col. Pete Devlin's classified assessment of the dire state of Anbar as the first time that a senior U.S. military officer has filed so negative a report from Iraq.

One Army officer summarized it as arguing that in Anbar province, “We haven't been defeated militarily but we have been defeated politically -- and that's where wars are won and lost.”

[...]

Devlin reports that there are no functioning Iraqi government institutions in Anbar, leaving a vacuum that has been filled by the insurgent group al-Qaeda in Iraq, which has become the province's most significant political force, said the Army officer, who has read the report. Another person familiar with the report said it describes Anbar as beyond repair; a third said it concludes that the United States has lost in Anbar.

Devlin offers a series of reasons for the situation, including a lack of U.S. and Iraqi troops, a problem that has dogged commanders since the fall of Baghdad more than three years ago, said people who have read it. These people said he reported that not only are military operations facing a stalemate, unable to extend and sustain security beyond the perimeters of their bases, but also local governments in the province have collapsed and the weak central government has almost no presence.

Those conclusions are striking because, even after four years of fighting an unexpectedly difficult war in Iraq, the U.S. military has tended to maintain an optimistic view: that its mission is difficult, but that progress is being made.

From the September 12 edition of NBC's Nightly News with Brian Williams:

WILLIAMS: As if to add insult to injury for the Bush administration, we have learned tonight U.S. forces are apparently preparing to walk away from a big part of Iraq, the hugely important Anbar province. That story tonight, Jim Miklaszewski standing by at the Pentagon. Jim, good evening.

MIKLASZEWSKI: Good evening, Brian. A new military intelligence report offers up the most pessimistic assessment yet of the military prospects for al-Anbar province. That's the no-man's land in western Iraq that has seen some of the fiercest fighting in the war. In places like Fallujah, Hit, and the provincial capital, Ramadi, which the U.S. military has never controlled. The top-secret report by a Marine Corps intelligence officer says there's no chance the U.S. military can end insurgent violence in al-Anbar. There's no viable government institutions or chance for political progress anytime soon. Even more ominous, Al Qaeda has been rushing in to fill that political vacuum. And military officials say that Al Qaeda's also recruiting, increasing numbers of Iraqi Sunnis to join that terrorist group, Brian.

WILLIAMS: And Jim, if the Americans choose to make a go of it there, does that necessarily mean a lot more U.S. troops?

MIKLASZEWSKI: Well, that military intelligence report said there were never enough American troops in al-Anbar province from the very beginning. In fact, one senior military official tells us it would take 50 to 60 thousand more U.S. ground forces to secure al-Anbar, and that's just not going to happen. Now, the top U.S. commander in Iraq said today there has been some military and economic progress, but for the first time, it appears that the U.S. is preparing to eventually concede a large piece of Iraq to the enemy and leave it entirely up to the Iraqis themselves to sort it out. Brian.

WILLIAMS: All right, Jim, thanks for that. Jim Miklaszewski at the Pentagon.

From the September 12 White House press briefing:

RADDATZ: OK, then let's go to the area where terrorism is a very serious problem, al-Anbar province, where your commanders say terrorism is a very serious problem. And you had a senior Marine intelligence officer say if you did not get more troops there, the situation would continue to deteriorate.

SNOW: Well, there are couple of things, and --

RADDATZ: Are they gonna get more troops there? How are you going to stop it?

SNOW: Well, two things. First, his combatant commander is briefing the press even as we speak. He started just a couple of minutes ago. Earlier today, General [Richard C.] Zilmer, who outranks the Colonel, but is aware of the report, said that, “Recent media reports fail to accurately capture the entirety and complexity of the current situation in the al-Anbar province. The classified assessment, which has been referred to in these reports, was intended to focus on the causes of the insurgency. It was not intended to address the positive effects coalition and Iraqi forces have.” He goes on to say that it is clear that there's violence in al-Anbar province. The answer is, if the president gets a recommendation from the combatant commanders to send more troops to al-Anbar province, they will get them.

RADDATZ: So, what the intelligence officer said, who has been there seven, eight months and seen conditions on the ground every single day, I believe General Zilmer is not there every single day. What he says is what?

SNOW: It is -- what he says is something to take seriously. I suspect that there are many other data points to be gathered from people in al-Anbar. And as you know, what the job of a commander is, is to go and sort through that very intelligence and figure out the best way to proceed. The idea that somehow, somebody has a vested interest in failing in Al-Anbar is preposterous, and you know it. Everybody, including the colonel who writes the report, wants to succeed there. And so --

RADDATZ: But I also know what those reports are and how meaningful they are if someone has been on the ground for eight months.

SNOW: I understand that. And there have also been a lot of other -- you're assuming that there's only one person who's entitled to speak on it. It is conceivable that other people have differing assessments. And I do think that the person who has direct operational responsibility will do more than simply sort of pull his chin and try to come to a conclusion. It is his job to assess the intelligence he gets, not merely from that colonel, but from many others, and to come up with an assessment. Let me reiterate. The president made it clear. He didn't want anybody BS'ing him. He doesn't want anybody lying to him. He didn't want anybody shading the truth to him. He has made it absolutely clear to generals that the job is to win. And the first thing you have to do is, to the best of your ability, cut through that fog of war and tell him what the situation is and what they need to get the job done, and that continues to be the case.