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BY THE BOOK

There are still places in this country where, if you know they are there, you can find major celebrities in the local phone book. Perhaps you know that they own an old beach house on an island... perhaps you know that they're listed under a spouse's name... perhaps they are local institutions (several come to mind, but it would hardly be fair to list them here!), who generally don't get bothered, and so they remain... right there, somewhere between Adams and Miller, for all the world to see. Well, time was when everyone was like that. The high and mighty and the regular folks, all jammed into the pages of a single volume. On tonight's broadcast, because we like to leave you with something on the lighter side at the end of a heavy week, we'll take you back to a time when everyone was "in the book."

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Musharraf's book deal

As Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf noted during today's news conference, his new book, "In the Line of Fire: A Memoir," published by Free Press (an imprint of Simon & Schuster), indeed will be released Monday, Sept. 25. 

The cover price is $28, but if you order from Amazon.com, you can get it for $18.48. The New York City Public Library system has 10 copies on order (2 already reserved) -- www.nypl.org.

The book's current Amazon sales ranking is 1,289 (compared to the Hugo Chavez-endorsed "Hegemony or Survival" by Noam Chomsky, which is No. 1).

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Early Nightly is up

Have you heard about Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf's book deal? It made for one of the most interesting moments in White House history this morning.

Watch the vlog to get the full story from Brian. 

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Sketching America's "fallen heroes"

"He captures their eyes." That's what family members say when they look at the portraits Michael Reagan sketches of their loved ones who have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Reagan is a Vietnam War veteran who took up drawing as a hobby during the war. It later became his profession. His home studio in Edmonds, Wash., is stacked with signed drawings of some of the 1,500 celebrities, athletes and presidents he's drawn.

Two years ago, Reagan drew a portrait of a serviceman killed in Iraq and presented it to the man's wife. Her reaction was so powerful and positive that Reagan realized he wanted to close his art studio, retire and draw for the families of all the fallen heroes.

Photo caption: Pfc. Sam Williams Huff, 18, of Tucson, Ariz., died on April 18, 2005, from inuries sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near her vehicle in Baghdad. Drawing courtesy of Michael Reagan.

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THE THURSDAY OUTLOOK

There are two big stories tonight involving Americans and their health. One involves Wal-Mart, the other HIV. We'll draw it all together tonight.

There are some disparate names in the news: Bill Clinton, Richard Branson, John McCain, Hugo Chavez and Dr. Z. If we do our jobs right, we'll tell you all the stories involving all those players.

VIEWER MAIL
If you watched last night's broadcast, you saw and heard a small selection of the e-mails we've been getting -- most having to do with our interview of the President of Iran. A staggering number of e-mails are harshly negative, and the writers vehemently argue that we should not have interviewed Ahmadinejad and should not air his comments on NBC. Some of the e-mails are rude and hateful. Some vow never to watch NBC again. The question I'd like to ask is: shouldn't Democracy be bigger than that?  How do we decide who we can interview...only those who are non-threatening and completely reasonable? Who decides that? I thought a comment made by "Lucy" on this blog put the argument best:

"What are people afraid of? That (the Iranian President) will somehow persuade us to become radical Muslim extremists? Let THEM be the ones who limit free speech. Let US be the ones who encourage it... even when we don't like it."

I'll leave you with that. I hope you can join us for tonight's broadcast.

Editor's note: If you missed it, you can watch Brian open up the e-mail bag on Wednesday's broadcast. Just click here.

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More on that Taliban photo

Lt. Gen. Karl Eikenberry, the commanding general of Combined Forces Command in Afghanistan, briefed reporters today at the Pentagon. He was asked about the photo that NBC correspondent Kerry Sanders obtained and published in this blog last week, showing a funeral for a mid-level Taliban fighter with more than 100 alleged Taliban fighters in attendance. Eikenberry said a strike was not ordered because the commander on the ground knew there was a village nearby and that women and children from the village may have been present. Eikenberry said that the villagers were possible Taliban sympathizers, but they were still innocents. He added that his commanders make those decisions every day, and he has complete confidence in them.

As for ongoing military actions in Afghanistan, Eikenberry admitted "significant challenges do remain," and as a result, U.S. troop levels will remain at the current level -- about 21,000 -- through early 2007.

"The enemy we face today in the field is not extremely strong," said Eikenberry, pointing out that the Taliban is quickly overwhelmed in a showdown against coalition forces. But Eikenberry conceded that "in some areas (the South and Southeast) there are more Taliban extremists than there were at this point last year."

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NOT-SO UNITED NATIONS

Those of us who have to deal with New York City traffic every day will be anxious to see the end of the gathering at the U.N. It occurred to me today that the Bush Administration will be equally anxious to see it end, for reasons having nothing to do with traffic flow.

Another foreign leader used his visibility on this week's world stage to take a broad swing at President Bush today. It doesn't get much worse than calling the President "the devil," but Hugo Chavez of Venezuela did. We'll look at his speech and talk about what it means (especially when combined with the comments made to us by the Iranian President yesterday) tonight with David Gregory.

What a fascinating color photograph of President Bush on page one of most print editions of today's New York Times [link requires NYTimes.com login]. If you look closely, you can see what the President does to his prepared remarks... going over them with his Sharpie (his pen of choice) to emphasize and break up expressions. It appears that virtually every line is underlined, with breaks right where the President wants them for emphasis during delivery. 

It has suddenly occurred to people who've filled up their tanks this week that gasoline prices are falling... rapidly. We'll look at what might be behind this development. Tonight there's also better news from NASA, a fascinating political story out of Virginia... and the e-mailers get equal time tonight. So many opinions, so little time...

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Early Nightly is up

Brian anchors the broadcast tonight, but Chief White House Correspondent David Greogry is on 'Early Nightly' duty.

Click here to watch the vlog and find out what stories we're working on this Wednesday.

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Missed Brian's Ahmadinejad interview?

The entire interview will air today on MSNBC-TV at 4 p.m. ET. Before then, you can watch a 9+ minute version cut for Hardball, by clicking here, and you can read the transcript here.

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The man in the tan jacket

Brian interviews Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Photo by Virginia Sherwood, NBC News

We have just returned from an extensive interview with the president of Iran. We are right now slamming together the various components of sound... the various "best-of" questions and answers that will air tonight in the broadcast, on topics ranging from the Pope to President Bush to nuclear weapons. We conducted the interview at his hotel in Midtown Manhattan, surrounded by members of his delegation, his sizable security detail and the U.S. Secret Service agents who are responsible for his safety while he's on American soil. It was a fascinating conversation with a hugely controversial world figure... and while these events are not without their frustrations (his more outlandish comments beg follow-up questions at the rate of one every 10 seconds, and yet we had to cover a lot of ground, which limited our ability to drill down), I think our viewers will learn a lot about him and his beliefs by watching and hearing his answers.

In addition to President Bush's speech to the U.N. today, we also saw a military coup in Thailand, there is space shuttle news (a delayed arrival back home) to report, and much more.

Off I go to wade into the transcript of our interview and look at our options for tonight. The interview (beyond the portion we air tonight) will shortly be available in a number of forms and on our various cable/Internet platforms.

We have a lot to do before airtime tonight, and we certainly hope you can join us for tonight's broadcast.

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