The Daily Nightly began on May 31, 2005. As Brian wrote in his first post it aims to provide a narrative of the broadcast day and a window into the editorial process at NBC Nightly News. Brian weighs in every weekday and NBC News correspondents and producers post regularly.
Brian Williams became the seventh anchor and managing editor in the history of NBC Nightly News on December 2, 2004. Read his full biography.
 |
|
 |
|
 |
advertisement
About the broadcast | Biographies
RSS is an easy way to get the news you want as it is updated even if you are not on MSNBC.com. More information about MSNBC.com's RSS feeds.
Podcasting brings you audio and video from each weekday broadcast on your iPod or other portable MP3 player anytime, anywhere. More information about MSNBC.com's podcasts.
Sign-up for our daily e-mail newsletter. It offers a preview of the stories and special reports featured on each weekday broadcast.
Editor's note: Warning to readers: this post contains graphic content.
Sunday I met the suicide bomber who attacked our bureau nearly two weeks ago. At least I saw him. The encounter was macabre, but not unusual in Baghdad these days. I saw the bomber’s face, curled up like a piece of leather parchment on the pavement in front of our bureau. It was a flap of skin with eye holes, the nose and half a mouth. It had been blown into a tree during the bombing and then dislodged yesterday by a bird. (We buried it in a bed of flowers near the bureau Monday morning. The local guards didn’t want to bury it at night, fearing that would bring bad luck.)
Then I went inside and began to prepare for the Saddam trial. Oddly, it wasn’t the only face I’d seen recently. Last month after another suicide bombing I saw another face -- of the bomber or a victim, I don’t know. It was stuck to a shrapnel-pocked wall like a mask. I started to talk about the odd coincidence with another reporter -- seeing two faces, who would have thought? We traded stories for a few minutes, one more grotesque than the next. I think it occurred to us at about the same time: "What happened to our sensitivity? Our humanity?"
Read more from Richard Engel
What kind of tree would you be?
EMAIL THIS
TRACKBACKS
Trackbacks are links to weblogs that reference this post. Like comments, trackbacks do not appear until approved by us. The trackback URL for this post is: http://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d83451b0aa69e200d8346afad453ef
Richard,
Your honesty, sense of purpose and dedication is what seperates your reporting from the majority.
"Each time someone stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope," Robert F. Kennedy
Whenever you question your work amidst the madness, please know that you are creating a ripple of quality that is lacking in world coverage.
Eric Harrison, Bay Area, CA (Sent Dec 11, 2005 4:40:54 PM)
Richard - I watched you thru shock and awe when you stayed on the air with Peter Jennings. I enjoyed when you held up Iraqi newspapers and read the headlines in Arabic. I think you must be a real bonus for NBC News with your ability to speak Arabic. I read your book. I can trust you to tell us like it is in this war. Thank you - and stay safe.
Carole Mebus, Easton, PA (Sent Nov 30, 2005 7:53:12 PM)
Your reporting is simply superb and I have just this to say-"TAKE CARE" !
swetha, India (Sent Nov 30, 2005 4:38:01 AM)
Richard: Your postings to the blog are great. Please keep writing and above all--KEEP SAFE.
Celine Segda, Jersey City NJ (Sent Nov 29, 2005 10:13:31 PM)
Richard, you are my favorite reporter. You do such a good job in a place full of danger and death everywhere you look, but you still have the story. I have read your book, and I loved it. Reading everything that occurred to you, the soldiers, and the Iraqi people through your own eyes allowed me see the stories that never made it on the news. PLEASE STAY SAFE!
Kim Dao, Plano Texas (Sent Nov 29, 2005 8:44:51 PM)
Wow...why aren't we hearing this on the air, instead of the blogosphere? Richard, always on top of the beat of Iraq, and a stellar job of it, too. many thanks and stay safe out there.
Pat Alder, Beacon NY (Sent Nov 29, 2005 4:49:42 PM)
I really like the work that you do. I would like to see more stories such as this one. Hope you remain safe
Deborah Maness, McKinney, Tx. (Sent Nov 29, 2005 3:23:21 PM)
If a picture is like a thousand words your picture says volumes. Instead of smiling and happy we see the pain and distress in your eyes and come to understand the suffering you must be witnessing. All this before reading your blog, after which I am haunted by the sights you have seen and ask myself how do we cope in such a world. On the Nightly News you bring us frank reporting neither censored nor biased and after which I come to realize just a little more of what is going in this war of ours. I just pray you stay safe and have found a way to cope.
Peter del Rio, New York, NY (Sent Nov 29, 2005 2:19:21 PM)
Richard, I am grateful for the work you do. Surely the things you see in a war zone must be at least as bad as the things the soldiers see. You have to try to make sense of it all and then convey it all to us back home. Thank you for what you do, and please stay safe.
Jim Wilson, Brunswick, Maine (Sent Nov 29, 2005 1:39:35 PM)
SEND A COMMENT
PLEASE READ: All comments must be approved before appearing in the thread; time and space constraints prevent all comments from appearing. We will only approve comments that are directly related to this post, use appropriate language and are not attacking the comments of others.