Of the three network news broadcasts on June 4, only ABC's World News did not report that President Bush's Baghdad security plan involving an increase of U.S. troops has thus far only been able to control one-third of the city, according to an internal military assessment first revealed in a June 4 New York Times article. “When planners devised the Baghdad security plan late last year, they had assumed most Baghdad neighborhoods would be under control around July,” the Times noted. By contrast, NBC News chief Pentagon correspondent Jim Miklaszewski gave a full report on the assessment during NBC's Nightly News, and on the CBS Evening News, reporting on two missing U.S. soldiers captured last month near Baghdad, CBS News chief foreign correspondent Lara Logan also noted that U.S. and Iraqi troops “only control about a third of the capital.”

On June 4, the Times published a front-page article headlined “Commanders Say Push in Baghdad Is Short of Goal” that reported on an assessment of Bush's troop increase plan announced last January. The article reported that sectarian violence is rising while U.S. and Iraqi forces have thus far been able to control “only 146 of the 457 Baghdad neighborhoods” in large part because Iraqi security forces have not met expectations:

Three months after the start of the Baghdad security plan that has added thousands of American and Iraqi troops to the capital, they control fewer than one-third of the city's neighborhoods, far short of the initial goal for the operation, according to some commanders and an internal military assessment.

The American assessment, completed in late May, found that American and Iraqi forces were able to “protect the population” and “maintain physical influence over” only 146 of the 457 Baghdad neighborhoods.

In the remaining 311 neighborhoods, troops have either not begun operations aimed at rooting out insurgents or still face “resistance,” according to the one-page assessment, which was provided to The New York Times and summarized reports from brigade and battalion commanders in Baghdad.

The assessment offers the first comprehensive look at the progress of the effort to stabilize Baghdad with the heavy influx of additional troops. The last remaining American units in the troop increase are just now arriving.

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When planners devised the Baghdad security plan late last year, they had assumed most Baghdad neighborhoods would be under control around July, according to a senior American military officer, so the emphasis could shift into restoring services and rebuilding the neighborhoods as the summer progressed.

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The sectarian violence was especially disheartening to some American officers because it occurred in May, the same month that they were undertaking the centerpiece of the Baghdad security plan -- a neighborhood clearing operation.

NBC's Nightly News and the CBS Evening News reported on the shortcomings of Bush's troop increase security plan, yet ABC News did not. Miklaszewski noted, “Four months into the surge, and the outlook is grim.” His report continued:

MIKLASZEWSKI: Military officials confirm that American and Iraqi security forces control only 146 of 457 Baghdad neighborhoods, less than one-third of the city. First reported in The New York Times, that falls fall short of the original goal to get all of Baghdad under control by July.

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One major problem: The Iraqis have not provided the number of reliable security forces as promised. U.S. military officials also claim that once American troops clear a neighborhood, Iraqi forces are unable or unwilling to hold it.

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More troubling: As an additional 18,000 US combat troops take part in the surge, they're at greater risk and being killed in near-record numbers. One hundred twenty-three Americans were killed in May. Seventeen have died in the first four days of this month alone. At the same time, sectarian killings in Baghdad are also back on the rise, as Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi army has resumed attacks against Sunnis in Baghdad.

Logan reported that according to Gen. David Petraeus, the commander of the multinational force in Iraq, sectarian violence is rising, which, she added, “is one of the key indicators the military uses to monitor the progress of the surge.” Logan also reported that "[t]he U.S. military acknowledged today that American and Iraqi troops only control about a third of the capital."

From the June 4 edition of NBC's Nightly News with Brian Williams:

BRIAN WILLIAMS (anchor): Now to Iraq, and early indications that the so-called U.S. troop surge to secure Baghdad is not working. From the Pentagon tonight, NBC's Jim Miklaszewski has new details on this uphill fight.

[begin video clip]

MIKLASZEWSKI: Four months into the surge, and the outlook is grim. Military officials confirm that American and Iraqi security forces control only 146 of 457 Baghdad neighborhoods, less than one-third of the city. First reported in The New York Times, that falls far short of the original goal to get all of Baghdad under control by July.

LOREN THOMPSON (military expert): There's not much evidence this surge is going to make a difference.

MIKLASZEWSKI: One major problem: The Iraqis have not provided the number of reliable security forces as promised. U.S. military officials also claim that once American troops clear a neighborhood, Iraqi forces are unable or unwilling to hold it.

THOMPSON: The Iraqi security forces not only aren't showing up, but a lot of the time they're helping the militias to push a sectarian war.

MIKLASZEWSKI: More troubling: As an additional 18,000 U.S. combat troops take part in the surge, they're at greater risk and being killed in near-record numbers. One hundred twenty-three Americans were killed in May. Seventeen have died in the first four days of this month alone. At the same time, sectarian killings in Baghdad are also back on the rise, as Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army has resumed attacks against Sunnis in Baghdad.

RETIRED GEN. BARRY McCAFFREY (NBC News military analyst): There will be a huge fight in Iraq this summer, and by September the situation will look worse than it does today.

MIKLASZEWSKI: Why? Experts claim there never have been enough American troops in Iraq. And without still more forces, the surge appeared doomed from the start.

STEPHEN BIDDLE (military analyst, Council on Foreign Relations): Even with the surge, we don't have enough troops to really pacify and secure more than a fraction of Iraq. We don't even have enough troops to secure all of Baghdad.

[end video clip]

MIKLASZEWSKI: Military experts have long ago stopped talking about victory in Iraq. Instead, experts claim, the current strategy appears aimed at avoiding all-out defeat. Jim Miklaszewski, NBC News, the Pentagon.

From the June 4 edition of the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric:

LOGAN: It's still very hard for Iraqis in Baghdad, who face ongoing terrorist and sectarian attacks. That's not lost on the U.S. military.

General Petraeus told us that the number of sectarian murders is one of the key indicators the military uses to monitor the progress of the surge. And after falling off initially, those numbers rose again last month, a sign he says that in parts of Baghdad, the cycle of violence has resumed.

The U.S. military acknowledged today that American and Iraqi troops only control about a third of the capital. But the general is still waiting for all his additional combat forces, which he says won't be in place for another two weeks, and that's when he'll launch a number of new operations against Al Qaeda and other extremists.