NBC Nightly News (10/7/11) marked the 10th anniversary of the Afghan War on October 7 with a segment that linked the war to the Occupy Wall Street protests. As anchor Brian Williams put it in the introduction:

Tonight protesters remain in the streets of a dozen U.S. cities, angry over what's happened to their lives and our country; and a big part of that, over these last 10 years, the two wars we've been fighting, starting 10 years ago today. This is the anniversary of the start of the war in Afghanistan, longer now than World War II and the Civil War combined.

That's pretty unusual. The report that followed was not.  Quoted in Jim Miklaszewski's report: Retired general Karl Eikenberry, retired general David Barno and retired general Barry McCaffrey (who some might recall for his role as part of Pentagon propaganda effort to feed talking points to TV pundits; he's also on the board of military companies that profit from government contracts).

Not to worry--also quoted in the piece was Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, who is not retired. Getting current and former military officials into a story counts is a kind of balance, right?

You may have heard about new Defense Secretary Leon Panetta's trip to Iraq--mainly because while in the country he told some U.S. soldiers that they were there because of 9/11. That led to coverage like this in the Washington Post:

On Monday, in his first visit to Iraq as Pentagon chief, Panetta appeared to justify the U.S. invasion of the country as part of the war against Al-Qaeda, a controversial argument made by the George W. Bush administration but rebutted by President Obama and many Democrats.

Also rebutted by...reality.

Panetta's visit was covered on television too. But on NBC Nightly News (7/11/11), Pentagon reporter Jim Miklaszewski was paying tribute to the new boss at the government agency he's paid to cover (a practice known as a "beat sweetener"). Panetta's Al-Qaeda gaffe? Well, in Miklasziewski's view, "Panetta misspoke when he appeared to suggest to these soldiers that the U.S. invaded Iraq because of al-Qaeda."

What you really need to know is that Leon Panetta's a stand up guy: "Throughout this trip, Panetta showed he's a different kind of Defense secretary, bold and outspoken." I think we very recently had a Pentagon leader who was "bold and outspoken" and attempted to link Al-Qaeda and Iraq.

Miklasziewski closed with this:

At 73, Panetta's s already had a lifetime of public service. And he told us today he took the Pentagon job because he loves the work. And so far, Brian, there's no holding him back.

Way to hold his feet to the fire.