What are occupied territories, Jack? Gaza? Israel pulled out. The West Bank? Who does that belong to, the Palestinians? It can't be occupied unless it belongs to another country. The Palestinians aren't a country. The disputed area with Syria? It's disputed, not occupied.

Imay be forgetting something. Please tell me.

A couple of passages from an article by Prof. Cornel West today, that I could not agree with more:

"Here in the United States, oil dependency and moral hypocrisy drive our policy. We rightly support the security of Israelis -- the world must never ever permit another Holocaust against Jews. Yet we wrongly talk and act as if the life of an Arab -- especially Palestinian or Lebanese -- has less value than that of an Israeli -- especially Jewish. Hence the low priority on the lives of those under the vicious Israeli occupation or on innocent Lebanese victims of Israeli bombs.

This moral hypocrisy yields a double standard regarding which UN resolutions we call to enforce -- no to those that condemn occupation like 242 and 338 and yes to those that call for disarming people who resist occupation like 1559. It also seems that American moral outrage focuses on precious Israelis more so than equally precious Palestinians or Lebanese."

The mass murder of innocent human life, whether in New York City or Beirut, is criminal and the perpetrators should be punished. Period.

Brian,

Thank you for your comprehensive reporting the good,bad,ugly, and reports of hope which many of us need as we endure the daily news these days. I recognize your plate is ful, but I have a recommendation for NBC.

It would be helpful if your news cast could be extended a few days a week to allow for more details in the stories that are being discussed. (Perhaps a few weeks a year)

There is always an abundance of news,and yes,I try to research what I do not know but the unrest in our nation and world, I beleive requires more time.

I am by no means no expert on the media, but it woud be great if Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays they extended the news by 30 minutes. The programming could be dedicated to Hurricane Rebuilding and Philanthropic Stories, Wednesday War (not sure the political term for war)maps, education and deeper background on the outbreaks. Friday HIV/AID's topics, research, data and understanding of the disease.

In each of the dedicated/extended hours have readings and websites for adults and children, impact on youth in each of the area(s), best practice what is working in each area(s).

I am sure you and NBC have already thought of this, but I believe it sould be really dynamic. Perhaps before the extra 30 mintues you could have a NBC series show star do ads to watch with them (the extended news) and them a plug for their show?

Thanks for the opportunity to share my thoughts and I am sure you did not need another "how to" or "we need" and for that I am sorry.

Thank you for all that you do!

"About the kids. Now granted, I went to school a very long time ago, but I don't remember a Spring Break. We only had two days off at Thanksgiving and we got off right before Christmas and went back right after New Year's Day. We went to school from 8 am to 3 pm. I wonder if kids have more time off now and spending some time during the summer is really a hardship. Just a thought."

Spring break is only a little longer than a week; It does not make up for the Summer work. Plus, there is work over Spring break too. Also, I personally have school from 7:30 to 2:39, about the same as your day was.

And about Israel, Israel is not evil as many governments inthe regions are. Mistakes happen. Israel's attacks are justified (I hope we would attack Mexican terrorists if they occupied Northern Mexico, violating international regulations and attacking the Southern border). It may be a bit overzealous in destroying Lebanon's infrastructure (and we should encourage Israel to avoid that), but almost everything (excluding mistaks such as the U.N. disaster) Israel has done has some logic behind it.

And, of course, I have to react Jack, to your... interesting comments.

"Hey Bill, reread my original post. I will repeat: no Israel/no US support for Israel, NO 9/11, NO 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center. The US would be at peace with the Muslim world. And we'd be giving Osama a medal for fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan."

I'm no conservative, but that (similarly to many of the arguments against Israel) is absurd. You were closer in your first post when you talked aout a U.S. prescence in the Middle-East AND Israel being roots of anti-U.S. sentiment. Israel is a part, but tell me this: If Israel is gone, we still have a prescence, terrorists hate us, and they are at war with each other (Iraq-Iran, etc.). Their internal conflicts can be dangerous to our interests. Again, you were closer in your first post.

Now, let us think about the interests we have in the region: Yes, we have military bases. We need them. We need some influence because the Middle-East is so important to the world (since it has a significant amount of oil). We need to develop alternative fuels to get out of the Middle-East. Until we do, though, there is no alternative. Terrorism is NOT justified because we do not terrorize the locals near our bases. It is understandable that it exists, though, due to the circumstances.

What should happen eventually is that we get out of the Middle-East, and the region will either catch up slowly to the rest of the world or become similar to volatile regions of Africa in terma of development and violence.

Now I must address your anti-Israel points.

"Note also that Palestine was their part of the world and generally peaceful until the western powers gave the Zionists (who were vicious TERRORISTS in the 1940s - ask the Brits) the country of Israel."

The Western powers didn't give Israel to the Zionists in the way you imply. Israel was already heavily influenced and controlled by Zionists. The U.K. allowed for Jewish immigration, and the event you're referring to, the creation of the state of Israel, gave Israel sovereignty. However, it would still have been a heavily Zionist region.

Zionists developed the region. Why is Israel the most advanced country in the entire region? Because of the Zionist floorplan and Israeli development.

Also, the entire region was relatively peaceful before the relinquishing by the West of authority over the Middle-East; The West ruled with a heavy enough hand (for better or worse) to prevent fermentation of terrorism. If you think that the land Israel exists on would be peaceful without the West and without Israel, think again (again, Iraq-Iran and Iraqi "sectarian violence" are perfect examples).

"I will repeat: no Israel/no US support for Israel, NO 9/11, NO 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center."

Assuming that the U.S. abandoned its interests, why shouldn't Israel, a sovereign, recognized nation, exist? That's like saying "No living creatures on Earth, no death on Earth." That's all well and good, but Israel is not a cancer; It is a beam of light.

Why shouldn't we support Israel? (Thank goodness George Bush gets one thing right!) It is a free, advanced, benevolent country. It is incomparable to other "democracies" in the region. It has even relinquished land to the Palestinians (which, of course, was used to attack Israel). What's wrong now?

I must offer one somewhat point you may agree with. Israel cannot destroy Hezbollah militarily. It must end this in dialogue. However, this cannot be a compromise. Israel must be assured it will be protected from Hezbollah atacks and receive its kidnapped soldiers. Israel must insist that only the slightest provocation will retrigger an assault. Hezbollah must disarm. Its militant aspect has no reason to exist.

Hey Bill, reread my original post. I will repeat: no Israel/no US support for Israel, NO 9/11, NO 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center. The US would be at peace with the Muslim world. And we'd be giving Osama a medal for fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan.

I know that 9/11 is supposed to be the greatest tragedy in human history since white-collar Americans died, but excuse me if I think it pales in comparison to the tens of thousands we have slaughtered in Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, Central America, etc. all to protect "American (business) interests."

It may also help you get grounded by watching the PBS special on Walter Cronkite. His passion for honest news went beyond his schedule.

I hope all of your readers who have jumped to conclusions on the UN observers tragic deaths have a chance to read the Canadian General's report that Hezbollah is using the UN sites and soldiers as shields by locating their positions near the UN sites. It's a complicated world and things aren't always as they appear at first as Kofe Annan is learning.

Jack from Scottsdale, AZ Wrote: "Listen to what even Osama himself has said. They clearly want us out of THEIR part of the world. Not an unreasonable desire. If they were over here trying to control our countries, we'd want them gone too."

Hey Jack, ever heard about 9/11? How about the parking garage in 1993? They ARE in our part of the world, and they ARE trying to control us....With TERRORISM. We not only WANT them gone, we want them to STAY GONE!

Does that sound UNREASONABLE to you?

How come every day we get aaccount of how many rockets hezbollah shot into israel by you and every other media but I have yet to hear of an account of how many rockets,missles,napalm bombs,etc have been set off by israel?the next time you say how many rockets hezbollah has sent off I want you to tell the public what damage israel has done with their weapons

Brian:
In your upcoming story about the "Head-on" product, I hope that you're pointing out that they are skirting the regulatory regulations by claiming they are a homeopathic medicine, when in fact their "inactive" ingredient, menthol, is the substance that may provide relief. Menthol, however, is not approved by the FDA monographs to relieve headache or migraine pain.

Regarding the NBC/Wall Street Journal poll detailed last night: I've been in a foul mood, too, but it has nothing to do with anything in the poll (unless perhaps that issue (namely Katrina recovery) had been included, but somehow wasn't deemed newsworthy enough to be mentioned in the report.)

Earlier this week, when NBC Nightly reported on various electrical power woes around the nation, it made a glaring omission: It completely forgot about a city that has been experiencing MAJOR problems in this area: New Orleans.

According to a recent article in the New York Times, power failures have added to the catalog of miseries tormenting the New Orleanians, raising the heat, keeping work from being done, and spoiling food and costing beaucoup bucks. The outages have been caused by wind, rain, thunder...or nothing at all. So, close to 11 months after Katrina, New Orleans has no reliable electrical system. And to add insult to injury, her power company, Entergy New Orleans, wants to raise the rates 25%.

The article adds, "Last year, the Bush Administration rejected a taxpayer bailout of Entergy." (Very shortsighted on sweet-talkin' President Bush's part--if he really has a warm spot in his heart for Louisiana, and wanted to see a "Louisiana that's vibrant," and see New Orleans "rise again," he'd have helped out.) Now the company hopes Louisiana will give it some of the $10 billion in housing aid earmarked for New Orleans. She has not agreed to this, and if assistance does not come, customers may be forced to foot the bill. This is a serious obstacle to New Orleans' recovery.

Meanwhile, New Orleanians sweat, swelter and suffer in heat compounded by humidity that is still in the 80's at night. In Bywater, an area that had not been flooded, people call it "returning to dark ages." The heat is so bad at night resident Nicole Guinchard said, "I had to go somewhere else to sleep." The temps are making people irritable and aggravated.

I wonder why, instead of covering New Orleans' power woes, NBC Nightly reported on such woes in California, which, compared to those New Orleanians must deal with, are relative child's play. I guess to someone at NBC Nightly, the suffering of New Orleanians doesn't matter.

And that's not all. According to a recent article in the Times-Picayune, New Orleans Sewerage & Water Board members acknowledged that New Orleans will not recover if the agency cannot quickly fix its underground pipes to stave off frequent losses in water pressure. FEMA had pledged to reimburse the S&WB and other local government agencies for repairs to storm-damaged infrastructure, but the payments have been slow in coming. So New Orleans is drowning in leaks.

The dropping water pressure has compromised fire protection, caused businesses to shut down for hours at a time, and forced residents of a condo tower to choose between paying for fire protection or having their building closed because pressure is too weak to get water to upper floor sprinklers.

These power and water problems are only a couple of the war zone-like conditions that torture New Orleans and her people these days. I've been wondering... were New Orleans to temporarily assume the name "Beirut" and Louisiana to temporarily go by "Lebanon," would NBC Nightly start to pay attention? Maybe such name changes could confuse younger newspeople lacking in geographical savvy, and they'd end up covering "Beirut" (a.k.a. New Orleans) in "Lebanon" (a.k.a. Louisiana). This would give the spirit-shredding situation the devastated city and her people must endure the national attention they so desperately need and deserve as they struggle against tremendous odds to recover.

All thinking outside the box aside--regarding the issues of power and water--her woes regarding either one alone could imperil New Orleans' recovery. During the current Mideast mess, much is being made of Israel's right to exist. WELL, HOW ABOUT NEW ORLEANS' RIGHT TO EXIST? She will find it extremely difficult--if not impossible--to exist without functioning, dependable electrical and water infrastructure. The lack of both could spell her death sentence.

It depresses me and makes me almost physically ill to think of the heartbreaking hardships agonizing the people of New Orleans and adjacent Louisiana parishes and know that their plight has essentially been forgotten by NBC Nightly. This neglect has got to stop. The lives of New Orleans and her people depend on it.

Now that it looks as if the Mideast war is going to go on for a long time, and is getting to be old news, isn't it time for NBC Nightly to move on and start addressing the myriad problems of New Orleans and the rest of the Gulf Coast?

Hi Brian,

I just want to echo one of the previous comments - I hope the journalists out there in the Middle East and Iraq are being kept a close eye on.

I do think the US is too close for comfort with Israel - having said that I don't know what that relationship stems from, just that it's been there.

I fear a war is going to breakout and who knows how big the international fallout will be.

"Iran and syria need to get bombed and dismantled if not in 5 years there missles will be falling on europe japan,Israel and usa,etc.wake up this is the front line"

I would like to suggest to this blogger that rather than swallow Israeli/neocon/Hal Lindsay propaganda whole and regurgitate it on this blog, why don't you try reading up on the history of the Middle East (not just from the Jewish perspective) and try some independent thinking.

It's really sad how many people cannot see how badly Muslims have been treated in this century by western powers and that terrorism of this relatively powerless group against the powerful is a logical outcome.

Last time I looked, the US has military bases (more than 40) all over the world, including in the Middle East. (If you think all they are doing is promoting freedom and democracy, I have some Enron shares to sell you). How many military bases does Islam have in the Western world? NONE. Yet ignorant Americans buy into the idea that THEY, not US, want to conquer and control the world.

Listen to what even Osama himself has said. They clearly want us out of THEIR part of the world. Not an unreasonable desire. If they were over here trying to control our countries, we'd want them gone too.

Note also that Palestine was their part of the world and generally peaceful until the western powers gave the Zionists (who were vicious TERRORISTS in the 1940s - ask the Brits) the country of Israel.

I daresay if there were no Israel or if the US did not so blindly support it, there would have been no 9/11 or any other attacks on the US. Wake up indeed.

Brian,

In the interest of balanced reporting it would seem appropriate to acknowledge the irony of US citizens being rescued by the US military in Lebanon as a result of US supported destruction of Lebanon by Israel.

Congratulations on the quality of your coverage of the situation in Lebanon. Your team is doing a superb job of covering the human side of this story, and doing so more completely than I can find elsewhere on the Web. To all of your crew who are putting themselves in the line of fire, thanks - you are doing an incredible service.

I noticed that Bush wants more money for Iraq. It was interesting to know that he feels the Iraq people need jobs what about Americans. Also he wants to have Iraq students come here to go to college at taxpayers expenice to learn the ways of America. Well most American kids can't efford to go to college so now we're giving education to Iraq kids while our kids don't go. Nice move for the taxpayers. Tim was right about the polls trust for Bush is gone, just like the NAACP visit for Black votes Bush can't be trusted. Even world leaders know he can't be trusted.

It is sad that the UN workers had to die even when they told Israel please don't fire on them. It must be heartbreaking for Kofi Annan as he spoke to the men as they were bombed. I wonder if Hezbolla had bombed the UN workers would the words " deep regret" be enough. Now Bush is thinking about sending our troops in the middle of this war. With a draft needed watch for Americans to stop him in his tracks. No problem sending kids who need school money or those that are poor and without work. But Bush can't send kids who's families have money to send them to college or those who call for war but don't want their children in the mess. People have to remember that every life is important both Israel/Lebanon. I notice we're sending money to a country that's being destroyed. I also noticed that Israel being bombed is not right but Lebanon bombing are excused. I really think this hold thing is a mess and Bush wants it to go on in hopes that Iran or Syria do something so America can attack them. No wonder the world leaders don't like Bush he has no regard for human life of anybody.

About the kids. Now granted, I went to school a very long time ago, but I don't remember a Spring Break. We only had two days off at Thanksgiving and we got off right before Christmas and went back right after New Year's Day. We went to school from 8 am to 3 pm. I wonder if kids have more time off now and spending some time during the summer is really a hardship. Just a thought.

appreciated your recent broadcast showing the citizens in the christian zone,swimming, in night clubs etc...
Not just the people fleeing Lebanon and dodging the bombs..

Mr. Williams,

Thank you for your story on Summer work. I'm going into tenth grade and have a ridiculous work load including reading and studying eight textbook chapters (on which I will be tested without significant review), two history books, two books for my English class, and a Chemistry review sheet.

And it's not as though I don't have my own work to do in addition to all of this. I am on my third out of four weeks of mini-internships in Washington, one of which also required the reading of three economics books (and I was asked to read The World is Flat as well when I have time). Unfortunately, the school didn't take this into account, and I'm about halfway through Summer without any assignments read.

All of this represents a trend in the educational system (at least with Honors/AP classes) toward taking the "teach" out of teaching. All last year in my history and English classes, the onus was on me to learn material for assesments. My teachers served as assignment-givers and test-givers who provided far too broad review.

None of this is the individual educators' fault. They merely conform to the system (as it becomes harder to avoid in the wake of No Child Left Behind's education standardization). The education system itself needs to rethink the teacher's role.

Brian,

Thank you for the update about President Ford -- I appreciate it, as I had not heard the news.

I hope Katie enjoyed her visit with you and everyone else there.

So, now I'll ask of the anonymous poster below ... what has happened to Benny Parsons ??? ... my dial-up hates the NASCAR website, which is where I'm sure the "shocking" news is being told in detail....

Brian,
I realize that compared to the stories of the horrific happenings in the Middle East, the one about students' summer homework is on the 'lighter' side. Like you, I did not have book reports or math pages to complete in the summer. As an elementary school librarian now, I see what is driving this summer work craze, however. The pressure on school districts, which is passed down to teachers, to get those students of all ages performing and achieving at ever higher levels. That pressure is translated to using all time as effectively as possible. Hence, summer homework. Personally, I agree with the history teacher in your story; a little is good. A lot is bad.

Israel said it was a mistake that they bombed the UN, however that is the same thing they said when they bombed the U.S. Liberty. I find that quite strange.

with hezbolla in lebanon israel has all the right to invade or drop bombs.the people in lebanon cry about it,know what whaaa.quit supporting terrorist.Iran and syria need to get bombed and dismantled if not in 5 years there missles will be falling on europe japan,Israel and usa,etc.wake up this is the front line once it passes israel it keeps getting worse

Brian,
You write (above) of the wrenching tales from correspondents in Lebanon and Israel, namely Messers. Fletcher and Engel. I can only hope that you, along with other NBC executives are keeping a microscopic eye on the travels of these gentlemen and the rest of your team in the region as they venture through the danger zones to provide us with unparalleled coverage. So quickly are we reminded that missles, rockets and the like can not read "Press" or "Ambulance" or "civilian"........ Thanks again for your patience as I recite the obvious, but we need these people to stay safe.