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Taliban in our sights -- an update

I received an urgent request from a U.S. Army colonel via e-mail this morning. He said that the surveillance photo I included in my blog post yesterday of Taliban members gathered at a funeral in Afghanistan should not have been released, even though I was told by others in the U.S. Army that it had been properly declassified. The colonel asked me to pull it off the Web site.  There was no more explanation than that. As a courtesy, and with an awareness of the danger U.S. forces are in, I had the photo pulled.

We are now returning the picture to this blog after Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman told reporters in a briefing today that he is unaware of any official Pentagon or military request to pull the photo off MSNBC.com or not to air the photo. I have also spoken to the military intelligence officers who gave me the photo and they say while there are now some internal debates about the release of the photograph, it's declassified and ours to broadcast and print on the Web.

So here is the photo -- again -- and a link to my original post from yesterday:

Photo courtesy: U.S. Army

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THE DAY AFTER

We have so many compelling stories to report tonight, I could make a rational argument for any of three or four stories to start us off as the lead. There's the Anbar province story I mentioned here yesterday. There's the reaction today to the President's speech last night. How about the overnight developments in Syria? How about looking to the Western United States, where the prediction is: this will be the worst season for burned acreage in 75 years?

There are several major stories about American life and health... and it would be unfair to pass them off as light or "lifestyle" stories in any way. One deals with our definition of religion and God, another with childhood ear infections. Yet another story has to do with the early admissions process at some colleges (the story today was not so much that Harvard was doing away with it... as it was the ripple effect throughout higher education)... and a story you may have heard about on the radio today has to do with predictors of longevity. We will sort it all out by air time.

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From Rudy to Ray

A day after watching former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani talk about how his city has changed in the five years since 9/11, it was fascinating for me to watch another mayor talk about the changes his city has undergone since its disaster.

Today, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin held a long-anticipated news conference to update citizens on the progress of his "100-day plan." Mr. Nagin made a major pledge upon his re-election to improve the city's quality of life within his first 100 days. But over the past few months, columnists, radio talk show hosts and citizens have taken the mayor to task for not defining his vision for the city's recovery.

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Early Nightly is up

Brian recaps yesterday's 9/11 coverage with a question about the lack of a fitting memorial, five years later, to the men and women who lost their lives that day, and he looks ahead to tonight's stories. Click the link to the right (below the advertisement) to watch.

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Taliban in our sights?

Editor's note: This story has evolved since this original posting. Click here for the latest and to see the photo in question.

KABUL, Afghanistan - In this country, just a tad smaller than President Bush’s home state of Texas, Taliban influence is on the rise. The U.S. military admits difficulty tracking their fighters in Afghanistan’s remote mountains. It’s why U.S. intelligence officers are so upset by a recent lost opportunity.

The picture above, declassified at NBC News' request, shows 190 members of the Taliban at a funeral. It’s believed by U.S. Army officers that several of those gathered were top Taliban leaders. But the U.S. was unable to take out the men standing in formation.

Why? Under the rules of engagement, the U.S. cannot bomb a cemetery.

One officer involved says, "We were so excited. I came rushing in with the picture." But in the end, that excitement turned to frustration. The unmanned Predator drone, flying undetected overhead, continued to feed back pictures as the Taliban dispersed, heading off in tiny groups, too small to effectively target.

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RETURNING TO THE SCENE

Tonight's broadcast will originate from Ground Zero. We'll look at this day around the country, and where we are five years after 9/11. Also tonight, we'll show, for the first time on network television, where all the artifacts from that day are kept. We will tour the hangar at JFK Airport where all the things we remember are being gently cared for. We have quite a broadcast planned -- from overview to microcosm -- and whatever happens in between.

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The big apple feels small

It was hard to go far in New York today without seeing, or feeling, reminders of 9/11. A short lunchtime walk in Midtown confirmed that. Outside our office building at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, a crowd stood as members of the New York Police Department band played a medley of patriotic songs, their enthusiasm invoking the perseverance of a city and its people.

During a pause, the sound of bagpipes drifted over from outside St. Patrick's Cathedral half a block away, where a 9/11 service had just ended. The day was clear and bright, just like on that day five years ago.

I was reminded of something else that happened in this city on 9/11 and especially the days that followed. New York became an especially kind and civil place, as friends and colleagues and even strangers looked after one another. The city might have been showing

New York City firefighters from the 3rd Battalion attend
a Mass Monday at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York.
(AP Photo/Shiho Fukada)

a little of that again today as the pace of things seemed a bit slower, a bit more gentle. Over at Park Avenue and 51st Street, a fire truck from Engine Company 65 was parked on the corner, the firefighters inside pausing for a few minutes and looking out at the pedestrian traffic. As I passed by, one of them nodded. I nodded back, feeling proud.

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Early Nightly is up

Brian anchors the broadcast from Ground Zero in lower Manhattan tonight. Our camera caught him in his office for a preview of tonight's 9/11 coverage. Click the link to the right (below the advertisement) to watch.

And if you haven't seen it yet, Brian wrote an essay for MSNBC.com reflecting on 9/11. You can read it here. And you can find all of our anniversary coverage -- stories, videos, photos -- at September11.MSNBC.com.

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Hello darkness, my old friend...

We heard the sounds of silence today, 9/11/2006, on the White House South Lawn... a marked contrast to the cacophony here five years ago. On that day, cooks, policy makers and grounds keepers were streaming away from the White House as fast as possible because they knew that the evacuation was for real. Not only had two planes crashed into the World Trade Center, but another had hit the Pentagon... and there were rumors that a fourth was heading for Washington and the White House might be the target.

For those of us at the White House that day who remember every millisecond of what occurred, today's dreary Monday in Washington has a special poignancy. In 2001, as we moved with warp speed off the White House grounds, I looked airborne and above the White House no higher than a couple of thousand feet was an unmarked 747 jumbo jet making lazy circles. Many of us on the ground feared the worst; that this might be another plane ready to attack, but it turned out it was an Air Force command and control plane sent into the sky to monitor conditions.

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5 years later

We have just arrived at our workspace 10 floors above Ground Zero, as we prepare to broadcast Nightly News tonight from lower Manhattan on the eve of the 5th anniversary of 9/11.  This afternoon the President and the First Lady will come here to remember those who died.  Journalists from all over the world are here to cover this story. 

It’s difficult to convey the emotions that emerge when you look out over this place.  I get this strange, uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach.  It reminds us all of what we felt that day 5 years ago.  I remember watching from 30 blocks away... as the 2nd tower collapsed... what I saw... what I heard... and the tears we all shed as we stood in the street.

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