More than anyone or anything else, Walter Cronkite is why I am in this business. Sure, as a kid I was already a “news junkie.”  

I think I’m one of the few ten year olds who watched gavel-to-gavel (and it was in those days) TV coverage of political conventions.   

But it was Walter Cronkite who personified everything that was exciting, important, dramatic, and enthralling about covering the news. Behind an anchor desk or in the field.  

And that, just maybe, you could make a difference doing it.

It’s ironic that his passing comes near the 40^thanniversary of man’s first walk on the moon. Because it was Cronkite’s  excitement about space travel (shared by me) which I so loved.   

I followed every space shot, closely watching Cronkite play with his model space capsules (and I might have done my own make-believe anchoring on the side!). 

He was “Uncle Walter” around our house.  Actually, my brother and I had our own nickname for him : “The Cronk” (I don’t know whether he would have liked that!).

No Huntley/Brinkley at the Palkot home.   It was “The Cronk” every night.   First in 15 minute form. Then a half hour.   Then, gosh, in color. Along with dinner. 

His announcements of the stock market figures each night told us whether we were rich or poor. Maybe, he’d have a funny story at the end of the show.  If you were really lucky you could see him pull out his pipe behind the closing credits.

As many others have noted, he was the one that helped all of us through a lot of trouble.    No worse than the John Kennedy assassination.    The TV (and Cronkite) was on constantly during that terrible long weekend in November 1963.   Kind of…like “rolling news” today. 

I remember him getting angry on air when security guards roughed up Dan Rather on the floor of the Democratic convention in 1968.   I got angry too.
 
And another moment from 40 years ago, I remember him bemusedly leading his show the Monday after Woodstock weekend with a story about a strange gathering of young people and rock musicians in upstate New York.   That made it news.

I remember the other really cool shows he did.   The moving CBS Reports documentaries.  Including one that sticks in my mind on an anniversary of D-Day.  He rode a jeep with Dwight Eisenhower describing the brave and deadly battles on those Normandy beaches.  Years later, I’d report from those same beaches.

There was his serious Sunday evening show, “The 20^th Century.” (His follow-up technology show, “The 21^st Century,” never really made it!)

But my favorite was  “You Are There,” where they recreated historic news events and Cronkite pretended to report them “live.”   For some reason, I always recall the Pearl Harbor episode, with him on a patio, with a scared young couple,  describing Japanese fighter planes swooping in low and dropping bombs.

I remember the slights against him.   When CBS political convention coverage ratings were low one year they yanked him for a Roger Mudd and Robert Trout anchoring team (I think they thought Mudd/Trout had a nice ring to it).   It failed.

And the greatest injustice, replacing him with Dan Rather early, before his retirement age, with several more good anchoring years left in him.   CBS News ratings slipped.

Which brings me to my own “in-person” memories of Walter Cronkite.   My first job in this business was as a Desk Assistant for CBS News in New York when he was still Anchor.  I was so in awe of the man I never gathered up the courage to tell him how much he meant to me. I wish I had. But it was great being around him. 

I’ll always remember sharing an elevator ride with him once. During which he told in great detail a story to a colleague about covering a story on an aircraft carrier and having to relieve himself off the side of the ship.    How cool was that?

In later years when I was anchoring my own show aired on PBS, I would think in my own very small way I was carrying on a big tradition carved in stone…and a flickering black and white image … by Walter Cronkite himself.   

I never attempted to sum up my broadcasts, though, as no other anchor ever really has, with as fitting and proper a closer as he delivered every night.

When he pronounced “And that’s the way it is,” you really believed him.   And you could go to sleep soundly, knowing that everything was, more or less, OK, in that simpler, but still sometimes scary, world. 

Thank you, Walter.  You will be missed.

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OK, I must admit, I wasn’t the hugest of Michael Jackson fans.   I, like millions of others, own a copy of Thriller (the vinyl edition sits in a box in my father’s basement on Long Island).   And I, like millions of others, danced many a disco night (including at Studio 54) to “Billie Jean,” “Beat It,” et. al.

But after the 80s, Jackson, and I, had moved on.

So it was with a little cynicism I took on the assignment of covering the Jackson death in London.  But almost right away I realized how special he was to a lot of people.

Getting my Friday morning coffee at our cafeteria, I chatted with a young woman who was very sad.  She was disappointed that she hadn’t been able to buy one of the 750,000 (!) seats for Jackson’s planned series of concerts in London which were sold out in a matter of hours.

When we were doing man-on-the-street interviews near the Michael Jackson sound-alike show “Thriller” in London’s West End, we ran into, by coincidence, two New York musicians who played with Jackson in 2001.    Their deep, profound and heartfelt regard for his artistry moved me.

As did other warm comments from people ranging in age from around 12 to 60+.

By sheer coincidence, this has been a huge Rock weekend in the London area.   The UK’s annual version of Woodstock, the Glastonbury festival, was being staged outside of the city.  That drew artists to gigs in London.

Jackson’s death and these concerts got me thinking about what “Pop” music (remember he was the “King of…”) means to me…and us.

Last Thursday night I saw, for the first time, one of my more modern groups, The Dave Matthews Band.   They usually play huge arenas in the States but as their following is smaller here, they played in a cozy smallish theater.

Friday, a venue in my Chelsea neighborhood hosted Roger McGuinn, founder of the legendary Byrds group. It was a bit forced, but he performed wonderful, absolutely iconic (there I said it), tunes from the Byrds’ catalogue.

Then, the big time.  The Hard Rock Café sponsored a set of concerts at one end of Hyde Park in London getting a crowd of some 50,000 for each day’s set.   The headliner Saturday night was one of my favorites, that old rock warhorse, Neil Young.

Sunday night at Hard Rock Calling, the headliner was none other than New Jersey’s hometown boy, Bruce Springsteen.   He’s arguably been my favorite singer since the first time I heard “Rosalita.”   His music a constant of passion, politics and hard–driving, good-natured rock.  Sunday he didn’t disappoint.

The age of the audiences for all the shows literally spanned decades.   And nearly everyone seemed to know the words to all the songs.  And nearly everyone got into it.

At my relatively advancing age, I’m still belting out  “Born to Run,” “Rockin’ in the Free World”  “My Back Pages” and more.

When I was young, rock’n’roll was the music of youth and rebellion.    You always kind of thought you’d eventually grow out of it and by the time you were thirty you’d be listening to classical music and Frank Sinatra.   But funny, that didn’t happen to me and it didn’t happen to a lot of other people.

One song at the Neil Young concert summed up the generation-spanning emotion-grabbing character of pop music.    These days, Neil Young’s encore tune is an odd choice, the Beatles’ 1967 Sgt Pepper anthem, “A Day in the Life.”

Saturday night it was perfect :

After Young did the first part of the song (the bit Lennon wrote and sang, “I read the news today ‘O boy’…”), out came Paul McCartney from the side of the stage where he’d been watching the concert.  And he sang the bit he wrote and performed  (“Woke up, fell out of bed…”).  They then finished it together including the endless final note, with back up vocals and cheers from EVERYONE in the crowd.

So what does this all have to do with Michael Jackson?

While a few acts at the Glastonbury festival paid tribute to Jackson, funnily enough, Jackson wasn’t mentioned at any of the four concerts I attended.

Disregard?  Emm, not really.

Most of the acts had some link to Jackson.  McCartney performed with him.    Springsteen’s ‘80s albums dueled with Jackson’s. Both Young and Matthews use or have used backings that would not have been not out of place on any funky Jackson album.

No.  I think tribute was paid by all of these performers simply by performing the music he championed, and made even bigger.

And again while “Beat it” might not have been in my pantheon of rock classics, I defy anyone to sit still when the riff  “ABC….It’s easy as 1,2,3….It’s simple as Do-Re-Mi…” blasts out of the radio.

All the best, Michael.

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The British government is going through one of the biggest upheavals in centuries. Members of Parliament are quitting, retiring, facing defeat in the next election, even possibly going to the klink.  And who is responsible  for this revolution in the mother of parliaments, the seat of democracy?   A young American woman!

Actually, 38 year-old Heather Brooke has British parents and dual citizenship.  But she was born in the states and went to school and worked in Washington and South Carolina before coming to the UK where she is now a freelance journalist.    In Britian in 2004, she got the idea to use a brand new Freedom of Information to find out what the British pols were writing off on their expense accounts.

After five years of struggle and court cases the news is finally out.  And its not pretty.    MP’s are writing off all sorts of household items supposedly necessary to do their jobs as representatives.   Including, er, upkeep of tennis courts and pools, a $4000 house for ducks, and of course (this is England after all), the cleaning of a moat surrounding a property.

Throw in even more serious fudging like charging for mortgage payments that were already paid up and fixing up places with expense money and  then selling them and you’ve got a scandal that’s captured the attention and anger of the British public for weeks now.   Already hit with big recession worries and suspicions about politicians and this just did it.

The only hitch for Heather is … she didn’t break the story.     The expenses which she was fighting to get revealed should have been made available this summer.   Instead, the Daily Telegraph newspaper got its hands on a hard drive with all the information on it and for a price made it public early. And got the glory.

Consolation for Heather though that she’s been  recognized for efforts.   She herself did a great documentary on British TV a month before the news broke and it revealed the whole corrupt mess.   Now she’s being interviewed and written about in all the British media.  She was good enough to chat with us and that’s included here.   As well as the story we did for Special Report on a typically wet and gloomy day ion London.

So check her out, log on to her great blog at www.ytrk.org, and sing her praise.  I promise you there are a lot of polticians here in England who are saying a lot of other stuff about her … mostly unprintable!

Watch the interview:

Check out the full package:

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With Captain Richard Phillips leaving Mombasa Friday for reunions with family and friends, the Maersk Alabama pirate drama came to a happy ending (except for pirates’ unhappy end).

What a crazy ten days it was.

Cameraman Mal, Producer Claire and Assignment Manager Anastasia had the funny idea of just turning me around at the airport and jetting us all down to Africa at that moment.

Cold weather Korean gear in hot humid Kenya might not have worked sartorially.

So it was a night of lives from the London bureau then off the next day.

The piracy story is, of course, a big draw. And mix in U.S. victims and heroism, and you’ve got a tale that’s bound to knock anything else off the edge so I was happy to be on it.

For the past year, I’d been treking down to Africa reporting on the growing problem of piracy off the coast of Somalia. I’d spent Christmas cruising with the French Navy in the Gulf of Aden. I’d spent time with the Dutch Navy in their anti-piracy mission. I’d nosed around the ports of Mombasa and Djibouti. And talked to sailors and folks a little too close to the bad guys.

But this was a different spin. Now, the Americans were targeted. For the first time in a longtime.

By the time we’d made it Friday to the Severin Seaside Resort on the Indian Ocean coast in Mombasa (OK there are upsides to covering this story), the tale had changed. The crew had seized back control of the Maersk Alabama and were headed our way. And the Captain was in the clutches of the pirates bobbing around in a lifeboat, with the growing might of the US Navy around him.

It doesn’t get much better than this.

Luckily, I’d managed to squirrel away some sleep on the flight down and at the Nairobi Hilton because it was another of many long nights of live shots (remember we were seven hours ahead of New York time so a 7am to 7 pm schedule gets shifted to 2pm to 2am).

Somehow it seemed to get hotter, more humid and breezy as the night wore on. After that first night, I realized I wasn’t going to win any GQ awards for grooming.

Saturday, it was down to the Mombasa Port to await the arrival of the Maersk Alabama. Along with all of the US media who had also made it over for this one. Mal found a spot for our stream box lives (no clunky and costly satellite dishes for us), Claire managed to secure us some soggy but filling boxed lunches from the hotel, our driver Jack turned out to be a big buddy, and then we waited for our ship to come in.

Which it did rather neatly in the early evening hours. Mal was very pleased that his super duper new camera sent out better shots of the ship then the rest of the world was getting via AP.

After a bit, I dragged Mal over to the ship and “shout-chatted” with a few of the crew members. They all praised their captain and at that point and were still worried about his welfare. But at the same time, were sure he’d pull through.

Only one crew member came out and screamed at us calling us “media leaches.” Hey, I’ve been called worse. And they’d had a long week.

Sunday and another busy day. We got a close- up look at the Maersk Alabama. I’ve seen literally giants of ships at sea in my coverage of piracy, but in port this one looked pretty big too. The stern sits fairly low to the water and you might imagine how the pirates could shimmy up ropes. Still with guns blasting and a hostile crew on deck, still quite a feat for four brigands.

Then, you could just imagine the fight and counter fight which occurred on board which resulted in Captain Phillips being launched in a lifeboat with the armed pirates and the crew back in charge of the ship.

Helping with our imagining, FBI agents who walked up and down the decks with the crew members recreating the act of piracy. The ship was dubbed a crime scene and the those involved could face a trial in the states. I called it on air “CSI Mombasa.”

Meanwhile, I had been getting word that Phillips’ lifeboat was drifting closer and closer to the Somalia coast. If it got there, the pirates could get him on shore and stash him away in a pirate lair. It would be a whole new ball game.

And so I reported all day that we were at a turning point in the story, perhaps a moment when the US Navy might have to make their move.

At 7:30 pm local we got the word they did…that US Navy Seal sharp shooter rescue which saved Phillip’s life and saved the day for the US…which was beginning to look like a helpless giant.

We had one more late live shot at the hotel. Which is where we got the news about the rescue. And for the next ten hours we reported about the ten minutes of celebration with the crew at the port. And then some!

By this time, too, cameraman Mal’s foray into the hotel’s buffet was beginning to take hold. He’s seen it all from Al Qaeda insurgents to Taliban terrorists, but the Mombasa potato salad did him in. So in between live shots on the roof, he’d lie down among the African ants to try to ease the pain.

Nevermind…Monday came, the Bainbridge was steaming our way with Captain Phillips, and it was a new day of lives, lives and more lives down at the port. The folks back in NY thought with Easter and all it was best to re-tell the story and add anything new. Mal found a perfect spot for me to stand where you’d get to see the whole port. Except I was standing in the middle of a rancid pile of garbage.  It’s a living.

Back to the hotel Monday night, and it’s my turn to trip up. A hot dog at the gas station convenience store where we usually stopped for essentials turned into a “highway to bathroom hell” for me too. That’s what Immodium is for.

Tuesday and a new wrinkle to the story. The Destroyer Bainbridge steamed to Mombasa with Phillips on board and a made-for-TV reunion port side between Phillips, his crew, and the captain and crew of the Bainbridge was on its way.

Then another bunch of wily pirates act up again and make a run on another American ship, the Liberty Sun. Luckily that crew did a good job of keeping the new set of pirates at bay as well, but the Bainbridge got diverted and messed up all of our plans.

The Maersk Alabama crew would end up leaving without seeing the Captain here in Mombasa. Oh, well, someone else’s fun.

A brief word here about the Kenyan people. They’re really wonderful. From our driver Jack to the longshoremen at the port, to the folks that waved to us from the highway, they’re friendly and helpful and hardworking. And definitely deserving of a bit more than they have in life right now.

And a surefire way to get a smile out of any Kenyan is to mention one word….Obama. They are very proud of their local son.

So now Wednesday, we were on Captain Phillips watch. We decided to do that near his Maersk Alabama ship. There were a few considerations in picking that location. One of them was a sea tale Mal claimed he knew of. Something about the ship being the Captain’s “mistress” and when he’s separated from “her” he’s got to return to give her a” kiss” or something.

Needless to say our Brainroom worked all day trying to nail that down… to no avail.

Well, there was no sign that night of the Bainbridge or a smooching Captain, so luckily before we stayed too long and collapsed from port exhaustion, Anastasia sent us back to our hotel for the night.

Bright and early Thursday,the Bainbridge (and the Liberty Sun) arrived in port. Hoo-rah.

It was rather cool seeing the Bainbridge up-close. I know how big destroyers are, but it still is smaller than I had imagined.

You could see where those three US Navy Seal sharp-shooters stood at the stern of the ship as they targeted the three pirates holding Captain Phillips in the lifeboat.

When you estimated the 30 yard distance between the ship and the lifeboat it really didn’t seem that far. Except for a few things : This happened at dusk and at high seas. The pirates were partially obstructed. And there was a hostage that couldn’t die. Nice work.

Now we spent the day guessing whether Phillips was inside the ship. The Pentagon said he was off and at a nearby hotel. We had checked there and there was no sign of him.

Other journalists at the scene thought he was on the ship. It seems they were right. Early in the morning Mombasa time Friday, there was video of the Captain getting into a car and speeding off to the charter jet to take him home,getting in clearly portside. Next stop, Vermont.

And after a day of somewhat decompression. Back home to London for us at all. This pirate drama is over. But as I well know…..

Check out the exclusive photos:

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Just saw the (purported) video of the launch of the North Korea rocket.   Release of the video coincided with our 19 course wrap dinner finishing a four-day marathon of coverage of Kim Jong-Il’s latest triumph for the Channel.

Yes, North Korea is one of my beats but also, yes, it’s ten hours away by plane from London with the right tail winds…and a 13 hour time difference from New York, so covering breaking news here is always a bit….taxing.

But Producer Tadek , Camerman Olaf  and I did it, thanks to a quick dispatch Friday by Assignment Chief Anastasia and with help from local fixer Jessica.    We were able to say at the top of Geraldo’s show at 10p Saturday night that South Korean government officials were saying the rocket would launch within the hour.    And, like Communist clockwork, at 10:30 it did.

Then, of course, came a few dozen live shots trying to figure out exactly what took place, satellite or no satellite, two or three stages, where’s Kim?, what does it mean for world peace, etc.

We do our lives from the Grand Hyatt in Seoul.   The nice PR woman Ms. Hwang and the staff give us the run of the place and it’s a huge help.  A nice big patio with a good view of the backside of Seoul and high-speed internet means the logistics of sending out our message is no worries.   Staying on top of the story is not too hard either.    Catching two or three hours of sleep in between around the clock transmissions is always the biggest challenge.

Having been to the Hermit Kingdom last year on that visit with the NY Philharmonic is a huge help in understanding the story.  It is a country like none other in the world.  Able to pull off technological feats few other nations can do while at the same time leaving its millions to scrounge for sustenance is remarkable.   In a very twisted way.

It’s too easy to make a joke of the whole thing. I half-seriously gave FOX & Friends heck for running a Team America clip in front of my live shot Monday am. “I spend months trying to get a visa into this place and you play that!” I yelled at Brian.

And then when poor Tadek and Olaf were trying to cover our story with pictures at four in the morning, I had to keep restraining them from dipping into the laughable propaganda videos of goose-stepping North Korean soldiers and choreographed rocket liftoffs.

No, in fact, it’s a deadly serious story.  50,000 Americans died trying to sort the thing out a while back.    Now half of Asia quakes, and the rest of the world worries, when Pyongyang tests a crude nuke device or sends up a rocket flare.

It’s probably the best example of the unpredictable and high stakes nature of foreign policy and why President Obama shouldn’t underestimate its importance as he grapples with our economic woes.

Because all politics, no matter how whacky and international….is local.    Especially when Dear Leader Kim takes one or two steps closer to landing a nuclear payload on a backyard in San Diego.

Thursday, the North Korean Supreme Assembly will declare Kim Jong-Il Dear Leader for a bit more time, the launch an unqualified success, and the country on its way to being a perfect state by 2012.

We’ll be on a Korean Air flight back to London.

And the story will go on.

My favorite moment of the coverage was mixing it up with a bunch of rowdy senior citizens in downtown Seoul.   Like the movie Cocoon gone agit-prop these old timers still remember when there wasn’t a north or a south Korea.  And when Kim Jong Il was just a nasty glint in the eye of father Kim.

“Obama must be strong!” screamed one South Korean AARP member into my face.  Before running off to burn a rocket effigy.  And mix it up with South Korean riot police.

Yes he can…and should be.

Check out Greg’s report  from Seoul, South Korea:

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Boy this better have been worth it. I’m sure that’s what a lot of people are thinking.  About the G20 summit that is.     Never have I seen London so turned on its head.   Convoy after convoy of top leaders whisking around the city.    As my cameraman Olaf asked, “Where the heck did they get all those motorcycles?”

The big newsmaker of course was not the twenty most important people in the world deciding the fate of our future.    It was four thousand scruffy kids and aging hippies making noise and a bit of mayhem.

I was rooted to my Buckingham Palace live shot position, so was spared most of the up close and personal of that.  But it seemed as pointless and anarchic as ever.

Except maybe not completely pointless.      The hooligans made a point of hitting out at the Royal Bank of Scotland branch for a reason.   It and its exiting CEO were beneficiaries of a massive UK bank bailout.  A practice even law-abiding folks in the States are getting a bit steamed up over.

No, as mentioned, I was on Queen watch.   President Obama and Michelle met Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh to be exact.    As I said in my live shot, it was arguably the high point of the Obamas’ visit.

He was actually early for a change and sneaked in without us barely noticing.  The video of the meeting has since been carefully scrutinized.   He gave her a two handed handshake. Ouch.  And she clasped hers behind her back.   Eeeek.   And an ipod as a gift?     Hopefully the greatest hits of Queen not included.

So here I sit overlooking the Excel Center as the G20 leaders wrap up their deliberations.     We already know what’s going to be in the final document.    A little bit of money and little bit of verbiage to appease everybody.   More or less.

And oh yes, one more chance for another scruffy bunch of protesters to keep a few thousand policemen occupied.

Hmmmm. Worth it?   Next time I recommend G20 Twitter.

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It was appropriate we were in Iraq for the “end of the war”. Or at least, President Obama declaring he would start to end the Iraq conflict.

We were there at the beginning six years ago. Racing across the desert to find a Baghdad with no Saddam and a lot of chaos.

And we were there for the middle when U.S. troops were successfully fighting back the insurgents.

And then when the militants and sectarian violence got the upper hand.

And now post-surge and the hope for ramp down.

And now… the beginning of the end.

It was an interesting trip.  In terms of what we call in the business “bang bang”, far less than in the past.   That’s a good thing of course.

In all the places we visited, Basra, Mosul, Kirkuk, and Bagdad, the Americans were trying to fine tune their way out of war and into a bunch of political settlements.

While not the most dangerous, this is arguably the hardest part.  And the one that is already quickly losing the interest of the American public.

With the tsunami of news concerning our desperate economy, it’s no wonder it was a bit of a strain getting our stories on the channel.

But most have gone on, and we were helped by some good timing with the Obama withdrawal speech coinciding with our interview with Gen. Odierno.

I was also helped on this trip, as always, by a lot of people, and I’d like to thank some them.  My crazy cameraman Pierre Zakrzewski, producer Marcia Biggs, Bureau Chief Dragan et al.

And the good folks with the US military who helped us in our travels around Iraq.

We’re posting two videos.  Then and now.  The first, a look at Fallujah five years ago when we went in with the Marines in an effort to clean out a terror den.  The second, a look at our visit this time around the country. A very different picture… and hopefully for the Iraqis, an improving picture.

Five Years Ago:

And Now…

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Kirkuk is one of those situations that just make my viewers’ eyeballs roll back into themselves.  It’s a crisis that threatens to take this whole “Iraq as new democracy” experiment down with it into a cesspool of sectarian strife. Or it won’t make much difference at all.

First of all, it involves the Kurds. Now, explaining the Kurds in a two minute story is  not easy. No, we’re not talking about cottage cheese or whey (as in “curds and….”)   No, they’re a big sprawling ethnic group which already has its own autonomous fiefdom and wants more. Read that Kirkuk.

Then, there’s the Arabs. Sunni’s really. Who want Kirkuk too, but just to remain in Iraq.  They’re not fussy.

Then, there’s another group of Arabs. They would be Shia’s. They pretty much run Baghdad and the Iraqi Army. Who in this instance have found common ground with their usual Sunni rivals to try to beat back the Kurds.

Throw in a group called the Turkmans, with their own Turkish ties. Mix in some Christians. And… you get the picture.

Oh, and I forgot one other thing.  Oil.  Barrels and barrels of it.  Under and around Kirkuk. Iraq’s second biggest reserve. One of the biggest pools of oil in the world. No wonder everybody is interested.

Now that things have died down in many parts of Iraq, the stuff that was only potentially dangerous rather than out and out dangerous is getting more attention. Like Kirkuk.

**Photo credit: Marcia Biggs

We were told by many US military officials that this is the flash point to watch.   Vice President Biden went there in January. Commanding US General Odierno went there when we were there. And the US military has quadrupled its presence there in the last few months.

Except there’s not too much to do there except play interlocutor to the various groups, watch the various factions and armies (the Kurds’ militia, the Peshmerga and the Iraqi Army) move around the region, and just hold your breath hoping no one lights a match near this political tinderbox.

We were told that outsiders are the ones who want to stir this up and the folks in Kirkuk are just happy to live together.

We asked people on the street if they could live together, and they said yes. Then we asked them how they’ d like to live together, and everybody had a different idea about what state Kirkuk should belong to.

Oh, there’s one more hitch to this. The Kurds really like America. We actually left them in the lurch after Gulf War 1, when we encouraged them to rebel against Saddam Hussein.  They did. And then we looked the other way. But after that, we gave them air cover and aid and protection as they established their autonomous fiefdom.

So, needless to say one Kirkuk police colonel we visited proudly displayed a US flag alongside his Iraqi flag, plus pictures of him with various visiting American notables.

And the folklore was that a statue of a medium height fellow in a modern-day business suit with neat parted hair in the center of town was George W. Bush. We found the statue, and we almost thought it was… until we were told it was actually a local guy who looks western.

Anyway, we have to bend over backwards to make it seem like we’re not on the Kurds’ side. And show that we’re helping everybody. Even while everybody is trying to stab everybody else behind in their backs.

The hope is that there will be such a big momentum going forward to make Iraq a successful country that everybody will put aside their differnces and, as I described it in my story, play nice.

That’s the hope anyway. The reality might be different. Who said making new democracies was easy?

Check out the video:

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It was Sunday and no better day for Pierre, Marcia and myself (along with bodyguards, bullet-proof cars and guns … hey this is Iraq), to take in a museum.

Not just any museum but the National Museum of Iraq.  It was a huge story in April 2003 which I and others covered.    In the wake of the fall of Saddam it was looted, trashed and a vivid symbol of the Donald Rumsfeld axiom of “Stuff Happens” in the new Iraq.

Now after nearly six years it was opening up again.  Kinda.   We missed the actual re-opening a few days prior because we were out of town.   That was full of fanfare … and chaos (again, this is Iraq).

The charge was that Iraqi P.M. Maliki wanted to rush the opening to bolster his line that Iraq is standing again.   Even though the museum itself wasn’t quite ready.

So I suppose we were prepared for the worst when we made our visit to the place but were pleasantly surprised.    The main hall featuring stone carvings and statues dating back several thousand years was really spectacular.    It could stand up to any room in the Metropolitan Museum in New York.

**Photo Credit: Marcia Biggs

And other objects and descriptions in other galleries were also fascinating.   Iraq’s history is quite incredible.   Not called “the cradle of civilization” for nothing, this place was a sophisticated urban scene when folks in North America were just trying to rub two sticks together for fire.

But, of course, to paraphrase  former Secretary Rumsfeld, “Stuff Changes.”  The contrast between the messy and noisy reconstruction outside the museum walls and the delicately crafted works of art inside was mind-boggling.

I couldn’t help but contrast the fine lattice work of crafted stone screens recovered from a thousand year old mosque in Mosul … with the brutal Hesco (sand-bag) barriers and concrete bar walls nearby.   There goes the neighborhood.

So, yes, the Museum is not ready yet.  The paint on the wall is peeling, there’s no proper security, most of the artifacts are still lost or not effectively displayed.  And the staff is sometimes well-meaning but also a bit clumsy.

But I’m glad I went and reminded myself of what the Iraqi people are essentially capable of and could achieve again, undeterred by mindless dictators and  ill-conceived geo-political cross-winds.

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Guess what? US soldiers are still dying in Iraq. For all the talk we heard from President Obama about ending the war, the fact of the matter is the war is still on.

When we got up to the northern Iraqi city of Mosul to report on the situation there, we were confronted with that reality. The whole unit we were with was very upset about the deaths earlier in that week of Lt. Col Garett Derby and three other troops. Their Humvee (yes, they weren’t in the new tough MRAP vehicle) was hit by a car bomb. It happened near a police check point. Some police that should’ve been there, we’re told, weren’t. There were suspicions it was a set-up job.

In fact, much in Mosul is a reminder that there is a way to go in Iraq. I hadn’t been there in a few years. The west side of the city looked as bad as any neighborhood I’d seen in my years covering Iraq. Al Qaeda in Iraq has decided to make Mosul its last stronghold. The buildings along the road soldiers have dubbed the“Highway of Death” bear the scars of countless blasts. The streets are a mess. The residents wary.

**Photo Credit: Marcia Biggs

But as with everything we’ve seen in our travels here in the past month, there is another side to the story. One day we moved around parts of the city with US Army Col Geoff Ellerson who is mentoring the Iraqi National Police. They have been criticized in the past for being in the pocket of central government interests but seem to have gotten their act together.

On this day they had basically shut a whole section of the city down to do house to house searches. Another déjà vu moment.

But now it wasn’t US soldiers annoying residents as they routed through their personal items….it was Iraqi security forces. Progress of a sort.

After seeing the tough west Mosul area we were then brought down into the center of the city, the old town near the Tigris river. It was bustling with activity, shopkeepers, traffic. A real city and what Mosul should be.

Election posters left over from an earlier poll were around as well. Which is another good sign in Mosul. Sunni’s sat the last local elections out. Because of that outsider status, it was thought they were channeling their anger through insurgents. Now it was hoped democracy would steer them a bit more to the straight and narrow.

Our tour of Mosul was cut short that day when we learned that just across the river insurgents had targeted and killed Iraqi soldiers. In fact, every day that week there was trouble.

The next day we toured a few other areas of Mosul with an Iraqi Army General. He had been touted by the Americans as another force for good in the city. I found him to be a bit of a showboat. Literally arresting one Iraqi soldier for not manning a checkpoint properly. Dragging his whole entourage half way across town to preside over some gifts doled out at an orphanage. And then trying to sort out some bad food at another Iraqi army base.

The week after we were there Iraqi security forces backed up by the Americans staged another one of those mass “operations” netting dozens of militant suspects. Again, seen that story before.

The trip actually brought to mind two other past visits to Mosul. The first was in February 2003. My cameraman Pierre on this trip was with me then. We attended a mass march of Saddam’s (he was still in power then) various militias.

The other visit was September 2003. Saddam was gone and things had loosened up. We even had a lovely dinner at an open air restaurant along the river with other Mosul residents. Of course then we all know what happened. Those folks who were marching back in February and were laying low in September then decided take up arms again, against the U.S.

Which brings us back to Lt.Col. Derby and the others who gave their lives. Six years later, Americans are still dying, still trying to make this whole thing work. And they won’t be the last to die either I think it’s unfortunately safe to say. No wonder the folks here are straining to hear something that sounded like working toward “victory” in President Obama’s speech. It’s only human.

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General Ray Odierno, commanding General of US forces in Iraq appeared pleased when he sat down for an exclusive interview with Fox News this week in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk.

He has a right to be. He basically got what he wanted from the President Obama plan to draw down troops in Iraq.

As he put it to me as we walked in front of the Kirkuk local government building:

“We’ve made a lot of progress. I’m happy to see the progress. The issue is getting it finished.”

How to get it finished is the key.

Odierno was never happy with the 16-month combat troop exit promise of the Obama campaign. While he would have preferred a 23-month timetable, his aides expressed satisfaction with a slight month extension from the Obama line to he end of August 2010.

Photo Credit: Marcia Biggs

The general told us he can work within that time frame:

“There are always risks,” he told me, “but we have ways to mitigate those risks.”

What could have made him more pleased is the ability to maintain strong troop strength in Iraq through the end of this year. Only some of the 142,000 US forces are set to leave in 2009. Thus ensuring security through crucial national elections scheduled for the end of the year and the and hoped-for peaceful politicking following that.

“Those will be clear signals to me,” Odierno told me, “that it’s time to draw down in a significant way.”

That means a back loaded drawdown in 2010: as many as 80,000 troops in 8 months. Plus a whole lot of gear. Quite a task if you ask me. No wonder they call that timeline a goal.

“That’s six years of built-up equipment,” Odierno said. “All of that has to be taken into consideration, plus security.”

The General does get to keep a residual or transitional force of up to 50,000 troops up until the end of 2011 exit date for all US troops mandated by the US-Iraq Status of Forces agreement signed last year.

General Odierno seemed pleased with that prospect:

“I think we’ll be out by 2011,” he said. “I think the two and half to three years is just about the right time period for us.”

I made sure I understood what he was saying…

“So you see zero troops after 2011?” I asked.

“Yes,” he replied. “That’s the agreement.”

In fact, the agreement states that if Iraq asks the US to stay in any form and the US wants to, it can and will. General Odierno and the White House are backing away from that –  too unpleasant an idea for many.

So, in the end, all sides seem to be satisfied with the outcome. President Obama can say he’s established a way out of Iraq, no matter if that way is a bit longer than planned.

And General Odierno can be content that he can get the job done his way. On this, his third tour in Iraq, I suppose he knows the territory … and he’s earned it.

To read more of Greg Palkot’s blogs from Iraq, click here.

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Our second day in Basra and cameraman Pierre, producer Marcia, and myself are tackling one of the toughest stories now in Iraq. The role of our nemesis next door, Iran, is the still lingering trouble in Iraq.

Basra’s the place to go because it’s the second biggest city in Iraq, and the one with the biggest connections to Iran. For one thing, it’s just a few dozen miles away. For another, up until last year the city was run by militias with full backing, training, and outfitting, according to intelligence, by Tehran.  And they’re still active.

So going to the border was a must. That meant we got to hop on a chopper and buzz out there. Always a good time. The “bird” was a Merlin. My first time on one. It’s a UK chopper that’s a cross between an Apache and a Chinook. Nice aircraft. Pierre and Marcia got to videotape and snap a lot of great pictures. We got to see the lay of the land.

*Photo credit: Marcia Biggs

And it told the tale of the area. All across the desert we saw old sand embankments that Iraqi tanks used to shelter behind as they fended off Iranian forces’ advances during the bloody and long Iran-Iraq War in the 80’s.  Further north we were told were the remains of the tanks.

That alone says a lot about how the Iraqis feel for the Iranians. Yes, the Iraqis down south are Shia Muslim just like Iranians. And for some malcontents in Iraq their rebellious message has hit a chord. But there is still a lot of very bad blood between these two groups of people.

That was underscored too when we left the chopper and rode with US Col. Warren Perry to an Iraqi Border Guard outpost. He and his men are mentoring the Iraqis. But they seem to have the task down pretty well.

My line in the report was that the Iraqis and Iranians are eyeball to eyeball along the border. It certainly reminded me of a lot of political “divides” I’ve been to, the Berlin Wall and the Korean DMZ come to mind. Every few miles an Iranian guard post was matched on one side across a big high dirt beam with an Iraqi sentry. We were as close as 100 yards at various times.

When we got to our destination, a big burly fellow named Col. Khalil Ibrahim greeted us. He was in the Iraqi army during the 80s personally tangling with Iran. And it sounded like he was still fighting that war. No sympathizing her.

His was an interesting story. After that he fought the US in Gulf War 1, then fought us again in Gulf War 2. Then it was hinted at that he might have not been too favorable to us in the months following the fall of Saddam. But now he’s back on our side. And against the Iranians.

Nothing gets across this border, he assured us. No militia members. No weapons. But to be honest, it wouldn’t be too smart anyway. The land on either side of the border in this part was pretty desolate.

But he still had a bit of respect for his adversaries. We wanted to take some closer shots of the Iranians, and were quickly hustled away.

So we hopped back into our vehicles and made it to the main border crossing linking Iran with Basra. Here, too, it was a bit sensitive. So Pierre had to shoot from inside the truck (griping all the while that the shots weren’t good enough.)

But we could certainly see that it was very busy. And if any bad stuff or bad people were coming into Iraq this could be where the action is. Probably the reason why it had been closed for the last 8 months or so since the big crackdown on militias and just now re-opened.

American, UK and Iraqi soldiers and guards seemed to be very attentive and geared up with hi tech stuff to stop items that might do damage to American and coalition soldiers … and Iraqis.

We did have an off camera sit down with the Iraqi border crossing big cheese. And we listened as Col. Perry did the song and dance all Americans have to go through with their Arab colleagues.  “How’s the family?”  “Fine.” “How’s the wife?”   “Running the home.”   “Have some tea.”  “Thanks.”   Yada yada.

The outcome of the weekend is the border chief complained about slowing his income flow down with all the security. And Col. Perry saying tough, it’s all for a good cause.

Then after getting blasted with a hail of dirt and sand from our chopper landing again to pick us up we were whisked off and back to Basra.   Our visit to Iraq’s Rio Grande complete.   And a little better picture gained of the headaches remaining as we extricate ourselves from Iraq.

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This is my  13thvisit to Iraq.  But my first in two years.  When Anastasia asked me if I wanted to go, I said sure. There was much to catch up on. And besides, I’d be doing it with my good buddy and veteran of countless hot spots with me — cameraman Pierre Zakrzewski. And a nice native New Yorker, producer Marcia Biggs.

Our first stop is the southern city of Basra.  I’d been there a few times under Saddam, and a few times after. And it hasn’t been so hot under either guise…   it’s a big sprawling marshy port city which always seems to have more garbage in the streets than redeeming features.

It does have one very  redeeming feature though: oil. Just about more than anywhere in the world. When you see the place though you can’t believe it.   It could be Houston.  It ain’t.

It’s been run by the Brits since the fall of Saddam in 2003, and that’s one of the reasons we are down here.  The UK is leaving this spring,  and the U.S., already  overstretched and trying to get itself out of Iraq, has to cover this place as well.

**Photo Credit: Marcia Biggs

Our assessment is, touch wood, it should be OK. Basra had been relatively calm for several years after 2003.  In summer 2005, in fact, I made my last trip to Basra.  Folks were eating ice cream cones along the waterfront and families were enjoying amusement park rides.

Then, as things happen in Iraq, the place turned into a blood-drenched maelstrom.  Iran-backed militia ran the city, made everyone’s lives  hell, and turned the place into a shooting gallery.

It finally took tons of Iraqi armed forces backed mostly by the US to rein the place in. Now, it’s in pretty good shape, tightly wired down by a lot of new and improved Iraqi units.

The hitch, as I noted in my report, is the place that still has a host of social ills: unemployment, lack of services, run-down infrastructure.  If the new local government doesn’t deal with that, the US is going to  have more headaches.

Anyway it’s  nice being with the Brits.   They’re always so articulate and accommodating and funny.   The press officer we dealt with was named “Dickie.”   One of his past times was playing cafeteria bingo.  He would sit at a different table every time he went to the Mess. He d keep a chart of the dining room in his office and X off the tables he sat in. Don’t ask me why.

The Brits’ food is also always a pleasure. Roast beef and Yorkshire pudding just some of the fare we tucked into. I’m not saying American food on US bases is bad.  It’s just a little bit… shopping mall. Brit dining room food is more Ye Olde Thatched Cottage.

We spent time with Lt. Chris Coles and his men, who are training up those Iraqi soldiers.  They’re living with the Iraqis in their bases inside the city.  And it’s pretty urban rough and tight. But they were very pleased to show off the UK troops’ rec room. With the ever present Brit soccer on the big screen.

We went with the Brits (and Iraqis) on a street patrol. All very well conducted. You always notice how well-spaced and carefully choreographed the UK troops are. It’s those long years of Northern Ireland city warfare under their belts. And no helmets. This is how they’d been patrolling the city for much of their stay — until the local thug gangs started to turn on them and set their vehicles on fire. They must be relieved that it’s all settled down. I know I was, not just for myself but for the battle-weary American soldiers taking over here.

As the very upright British Brigadier General Tom Beckett put it to me, “In any mission you have yours ups and downs, but if you persevere you can get through it.”

As for the residents we met on patrol, they were uniformly friendly and appreciative of the troops’ presence. They all said they were happy the militias were no longer there and there was security again.  But they also were full of grumbles about what Basra needed. Just like London. What progress.

Probably the high point of our visit with the Brits though was the combat exercise involving Iraqi troops mentored by UK soldiers. It was run on a run-down, abandoned base with nearly live fire. And it was better than “Full Metal Jacket” and “Platoon” all rolled into one.

Or should I say the highpoint for cameraman Pierre, who got to run around the shooting, act like the Energizer Bunny he is,  and get up as close as possible to the blasts (his hearing has left him about 8 hot spots ago).

The Americans will be training up the police, which, if the Basra Finest are anything like other police forces in this country, will be anything but an easy job. So, I think it s a bit too early to say that we Yanks will have an easy ride of it. Too often in this tough, sprawling country things have gone from good to bad. But it appears easier than other places we’ ve wandered into.

And again, as I mentioned in my report, the other redeeming feature of all this is that it’ll be a quick exit when the U.S. troops get their final marching orders.  Kuwait, the land exit ramp for all American forces in Iraq, is right next door! And McDonald’s is not too far beyond that!

Watch the report:

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Well we finally got into the new U.S. Embassy in Baghdad Tuesday.   Its been in the works for years.  And kept under wraps except for an unveiling ceremony until now.   Understandably.   There are huge security concerns surrounding the place.  And a fair amount of controversy as well.    What else is new in Iraq?

So needless to say our tour was tightly monitored by  embassy rep Leslie and security expert Denis.  Nice folks but it did have a little Saddam era feel to it when we had minders tagging along with us all the time here.

You’ve maybe read the stories, if not check out this one.  The superlatives are through the roof.  Most expensive, biggest, most secure embassy.  Etc.  The price tag at 740 million dollars these days doesn’t seem like too much but its about 150 million over budget. Plus its late.

And its big.  27 buildings on 104 acres.

Still when we took our then – exclusive TV tour of the place it seemed  pretty unassuming.  Low sand colored buildings that look like they could be a business park in Santa Fe.   The day we were there a wicked sand storm was kicking up making it seem even more like the Wild West.

We saw some offices.  They were pretty dull.   We saw an apartment.  Seemed like something out of the Upper East Side of Manhattan.  And we saw where folks eat, work out, shop and hang.   And frankly those spots didn’t look too much different than what we see all the time on military bases.
Which I guess was the point of the tour.  The hype on this place has been incredible.    If you believed the stories there was supposed to be a movie theater, shopping mall, bowling alley and school here.  Nope.

The thing that actually was apparent is that for all of its grand size, the place is pretty crowded.   600 apartments for 1200 people means everybody s doubling up.   The dining facility is in a semi-temporary  structure because the space in a hard shelled building for that was too small. Ditto the gym which had to be moved from a smaller space and onto a basketball court.  Not much extra  room was to be found either in the offices we saw.

What does that say?   Well no one told us this directly but what the place really seems to represent is a fascinating  snap shot of the rosier outlook on the Iraq conflict the US government had in years past. .

When the plans were first being whipped up in the early part of the US presence here its apparent Washington thought that by the time the embassy was finished there wouldn’t be the need for as many people as they are now.  And perhaps that some of those people could live, eat, and relax “off campus.”.

Security is a lot better now but Baghdad is still no place to go for a jog, pick up a pizza, or catch a flick.

Basically, back in ‘04 the Bush administration figured that by ‘08 when it should’ve been finished, this embassy would ve been big but not so, shall we say,  self contained.

And perhaps less of a need to be super secure.  I am 100 per cent sure that care has been taken to clear out of the apartment blocks overlooking the place across the street of anyone who could be a risk.  Ditto the area across the Tigris River of whoever might consider lobbing a rocket or two into the big sprawling campus. And that kind of stuff again is way down now anyway .  But you can imagine the planners back in 06 and 07 when the old embassy in the Green Zone was getting hit on a regular basis wondering if their new place was going to turn into a piece of insurgent Swiss cheese.

And who knows, as our military draws down, and Iraq begins to stand up on its feet again the numbers in the now crowded embassy could go down as well.
So at the end of the day it seems that conditions in Iraq are now beginning to catch up to the embassy design.  And that s not a bad thing … for Americans and Iraqi’s.

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Today my cameraman Pierre Zakrewski and I said good bye to an old friend, outgoing U.S. ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker. We covered and talked to him back in March 2007 when he was leaving his last posting as ambassador to Pakistan. Now we caught up with him at a concert in his honor in Baghdad just days before he was leaving to go into retirement.

The guy’s CV reads like a “what ’s what” of the Mideast and sub-Asian politics. He has served in (get ready for this) Iran, Pakistan, Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Afghanistan, Kuwait, Qatar, and twice in Iraq — often when trouble was breaking out all around.

He speaks fluent Arabic, and it was on show this day. After a very colorful concert and performance. And a few speeches to the man, he got up and spoke. The audience’s appreciation of his Arabic and his admiration for Iraq was warmly received.

We’d actually been trying to sit down with him for awhile. One interview got scrubbed due to our schedule change. And now we were only permitted a few words. I asked him how he felt leaving Iraq and a diplomatic career. He said it wasn’t “sinking in” yet. And then being the self-effacing guy he is, he complimented us for the work we were doing.

He leaves (limps actually, recovering from what I’m told is a hernia) on a high note. He and Gen. Petraeus presided over the Surge period in Iraq in which the US plucked if not victory at least an uneasy truce out of the deadly disaster that Iraq was plunging into.

And then to top off his time here, he was on-call during the recent elections, which was the biggest democratic success of recent Iraq history. Among the people he met after the concert were two women, one of them a parliament member. They told him he was their hero. He counseled them that democracy isn’t easy.

Replacing Crocker as Ambassador reportedly Christopher Hill, current negotiator in the North Korean nuclear talks. He, too, is a career foreign officer but one with little experience in the Mideast and Arabic. That s one of the reasons Crocker will be missed. And while he’s been quoted as saying he’s going to be happy to be retiring to Washington state, somehow, at the relatively young age of 59 and in great shape as a marathon runner, with hot spots in his blood, he won’t go away that easily. We wish him well.

Check out the EXCLUSIVE web video below!

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Okay, so being a Garden City Long Island boy in my heart of hearts, I’m a Jets fan. Their old home, Shea Stadium, was on Long Island; their summer training camp was at nearby Hofstra University and Joe Willie used to live around the corner from us.

But it’s been so long since the Jets were any good, despite this season’s Brett Favre blip, I’ve long ago switched to the Giants.  That loyalty was paid off last year.  But when the Giants disintegrated in round one of the playoffs I had to switch.

Coming from the Northeast, I toyed with Baltimore and Philly.  But when those two dropped away there was no other choice:  The Pittsburgh Steelers.

Pittsburgh is my father’s hometown; I’ve heard so many old steel mill stories; it definitely feels like my home away from hometown.

Besides, my cousin Janet sent me a Steelers jersey and a terrible towel to wear and use.  So it was set.  

Only one more hitch.  The Super Bowl was happening when I was en route to do a month tour in Baghdad.  Never fear.  I landed at the Amman, Jordan airport around midnight Sunday.   With the time difference, kickoff was 1:30 a.m. Monday.  Just enough time to drop off my bags at the hotel and head off to the Marriott Champions Sports Bar.

The place was packed.  If you are an American in Amman or an America lover that’s where you’d be   I made it just in time for the kickoff. After a few other snafus.  I’m told the Star Spangled Banner was a hit. We didn’t have audio so we had to pretend we were Jennifer.  Bad move.

Then there was a Venezuelan kid who switched the  main screen to the Venezuela-Columbia soccer match.  A regional war almost ensued.

The first half? Good stuff.  My highlight was the 100-yard interception by Pittsburgh — which sparked my ten yard run around a few tables, not appreciated by the Cardinal retiree pensioner vacationers in the front row.

Half time show: What more can I say.  Bruuuuuuuuuuce.  Not sure I would have gone with “Tenth Avenue Freeze Out” as the opener, and the faux choir to plug his latest weak album was off.   But otherwise perfect.  (Think about it….Pilot Hero Sully, The Boss, The Prez and General Surge Petraeus in one show.  Hoo ahh).

Oh, there’s one other hitch with watching a Super Bowl abroad. You get the lame NFL international feed.  No John Madden.  And no commercials!!!!!   That’s often a highlight.

So this is where it all went wrong for me.  The third quarter was noticeably slower.  It was approaching 4 a.m. local.  I had an appointment early at the Iraqi embassy.   I decided to take the Steeler lead.  And leave.

Of course I woke up a few hours later to find I missed the best part of one of the best Supe’s in history. (Next to of course Broadway Joe’s triumph).  That’s okay.  I saw the key clips again and again.

And how often do you get to wear a football jersey indoors?

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As if President Obama didn’t have enough in his foreign In-Box. Add one more hot spot… Somalia.

You remember Somalia:  The Black Hawk Down incident, which left 18 American soldiers dead in 1993.   That was the last time the US got seriously involved in the place.  Now there’s a call for this new Democratic President to get involved.

We’ve been following the place closely for the past year.  In May we were down in Kenya listening to horror stories from Somalia refugees.  And from international aid groups.

An outfit called the al Shabab is trying to take over the place.   They’re an Islamist terror group with ties to al Qaeda believed to harbor  militant suspects wanted by the US.

In October we were in Djibouti with the new Africom US military command.  Their job in part is to try to rein in groups like Al Shabab.  Or at the very least get African countries to do the dirty work.  They’re concerned.

And in December we cruised the north Somalia coast with the French navy, and looked up close at the Heart of Darkness that is this troubled land.

Right now things could get a lot worse.  The Al Shabab are on the move.  They just took over a key central Somalian town. They want to turn the place into an African Taliban Afghanistan.

But as we found out after some more digging, there could be some openings for the new President:

The hated Ethiopian troops who have been hated as occupiers for the past few years just left.

African Union peacekeepers, less hated, who also said they might leave, are staying.

The long-time President of Somalia seen as a roadblock to peace quit and should be replaced with a more moderate guy.

Some of the more moderate Islam groupings are being brought into the government.

There is bloody in-fighting between the Al Shabab group and other Islamists.

And even that international naval force off Somalia is nabbing some Pirates.  Their earnings are thought to help fuel trouble in Somalia

So you see, there is a chance Mr. President.  Now if we could only spare some time from a half dozen other hot spots and that global financial crisis!

Check out Greg’s report:

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I actually didn’t quite know what to expect in our quick visit to Iceland.  I’ve lived in Europe for years, but had never been there.   I knew about outdoor geothermal pools and vast lava fields.  And of course Bjork.   And I’d been researching the financial woes there from afar.  But nothing could really prepare me for what Mal, Tadek and I found:  The most user-friendly country I’ve ever visited.  (I suppose with a total population of 320, 000, that makes sense.)

Want to see the Prime Minister?   Just stop by his office around the corner from the wool sweater boutique and he’ll make time.  Like to shoot in the stock market?    Sure, come on in, munch a complimentary apple and get shots of our six or eight traders.   And if one hotel’s broadband speed doesn’t work for your live shots,  scoot across the square and another boutique hotel in a restored Icelandic house will do the trick. Plus, the cream of endive soup there is lovely.

But I was most struck by the people and what a rotten position their government and bankers and hot-shot businessmen have put them in.    The sub-prime ugliness  just washed all over their fragile banks and shaky business deals.  The stock market lost nearly all of its value (down 94 per cent in 2008).  Its currency lost half its value. Inflation Interest and unemployment rates are well into double digits.  These folks are stuck. Older people’s retirement funds are wiped out. Working people’s loans for cars, houses and business needs are costing double or more.  And the future looks bleak.

Fox News team Greg Palkot and cameraman Mal James interview Iceland anti-government protest organizer Hordur Torfason outside the parliament building in the capital city Reykjavik.

It’s basically what we’re all going through in this credit crunch.   Just a whole lot worse.  They don’t call it a recession.  They commonly call it a “depression.” And the cause?  It’s not a crisis.  This weather conscious band of hardy island folks dub it a “hurricane.”

And what do these mild-mannered laid back folks call what they’re doing now?   Nothing short of waging a “revolution” as one girl put it to me.  Instead of dipping their brown bread in lobster bisque they’ve been out storming the barricades of the pint-sized parliament building here, demanding the rascals who got them into this mess get booted out. And the cozy web of interlocking alliances among regulators and banks and businessmen and media gets disentangled.

And it’s working.   The center-right Prime Minister handed in his resignation Monday.  An interim center left pol should be sworn in shortly.  The new government  promises to get rid of the head of the central bank seen as a central culprit in all of this.  And there are demands for change and reform.

Greg Palkot tackles the issues of Iceland's rising discontentment with outgoing Prime Minister Geir Haarde. He was forced out of office by a wave of public opinion which blamed his government's poor handling of the credit crunch for the country's economic crisis.

With all this trouble and stress you’d think the Icelanders would be preoccupied and unfriendly.  Not at all.  First of all, they all speak English along with their old Norse, which helps. And they were uniformly warm and helpful.   Right down to the hot dog stand guy who told us about the 2004 visit by fast food maven Bill Clinton to his spot.  (That hot dog business by the way doing very well, thank you.)

And I guess the last thing I was struck by was how much of this little island nation hugging the arctic circle, swept with wet blankets of snow, and whose ancestors roamed the seas between them and Greenland in Viking boats aren’t too much unlike us now.  With the global credit crunch…..
We are all Icelanders.  Feeling our savings go away, angry at the folks who did this to us, helpless in the feeling that nothing can be done, but determined to get through it.  “We’re tough people” an older pretty woman (most women are pretty in Iceland) told me in a cool veggie lunch time restaurant.  “We ll make it.”

I hope she’s right.  For all of our sakes.

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Well, after a marathon viewing session of Inaugural activities Tuesday — cameraman Olaf Wiig and I got up bright and early and sampled opinion of commuters at Kings Cross Station here in London.   Most had seen President Obama’s speech and liked it.

We also got a chance to check out the front pages of a lot of European newspapers.   Most treated the event like Obama was their own president with wall-to-wall coverage.

My favorite was our sister tabloid The Sun.   It ran full page  with a great picture of little Sasha Obama giving his father a thumbs up after proceedings at the Capitol were completed.   “You’re the Daddy” declared the headline.

European leaders were also gushing post-Inauguration. UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown declared the inauguration “a new chapter in American history and the world’s history”.

Hyperactive French President Sarkozy went further saying he’s eager for Obama to get to work so that with him “they can change the world”.

His government this week, though, already gave a sign there could be some pushing back from Obama mania, saying it’s not in the mood to send more combat troops to Afghanistan like President Obama wants.

Phil Collins, political writer at the UK Times and former speech writer for ex-UK Prime Minister Tony Blair told me that “…when you go from rhetoric to trying to actually solve the problems that’s when it gets difficult”.

(He also independently agreed with my feeling that the Address was a bit “off”.   He noted there was no over-arching theme.  I understand he’s got to get to work but I personally thought  the U.S. could have used one more day of soaring imagery.)

And the usual anti-U.S. suspects are also doing their bit to spoil the party, China censoring parts of the speech, Russia saying, um yes, they’d have more phone calls to the President, and Iran declaring no seal of Tehran approval until they see action.

All in all a sign of the tough times that could be ahead for the new President.

And tough judges :

On the way to the shoot I did my usual talk to the Cabbie routine to find out what the world is thinking.

“I want to know who’s pulling Obama’s strings?” he asked me.

“What strings?” I queried.

“You know, guv, he couldn’t have gotten this far without someone behind him.”

After trying to convince him that Obama could have done this all on his own, I thought again.   Yes, I hope there are a whole lot of people behind him.  He will need all the help he can get.

Check out the video below:

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This is one of those weeks when even dyed-in-the-wool foreign correspondents like me wished we had a domestic beat.  The Obama inauguration is such a world-changing event it would be fun to have a front row seat.

But there will be enough to keep us folks abroad busy, starting from er… Day One.  While the Inaugural Address will no doubt have a big emphasis on our troubled domestic economic scene, foreign topics are sure to be mentioned, too. And as Robin Niblett of London’s Chatham House  put it to me, European leaders will be listening with “radar-like intensity” to Obama’s every word.

The international “to-do” list reads as long as the home turf  version : Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Gaza, North Korea, Somalia, Russia, Al Qaeda, Arms control, etc.  All I can say is, I’m glad the President-elect is assembling an able team of foreign envoys.   There’s just so much of him to go around.

I also chatted the other day with Alastair Campbell, former UK Prime Minister Blair’s Spin Meister (basically Tony’s Karl Rove).  Expecting a good old cynical take on the new President I instead got wide-eyed optimism (“I just think that Obama’s election has had an extraordinary galvanizing effect”).

I suppose one reason for that is Campbell is now firmly in the UK-Prime-Minister-Brown camp, and Brown lately has been falling over himself with his own praise for Obama (he is considered the odds-on favourite to win the much coveted contest: “Who gets the first phone call from the new president?”).  The other reasons: people in the UK and elsewhere in the globe are really feeling that way.

So, we’ll be watching the Inaugural Address “over here”… along with a lot of other people.  There are viewing parties in London organized in pubs, a wine bar, a Mexican restaurant.  Democrats Abroad are even staging their own Inaugural Ball Tuesday night at a somewhat downmarket London hotel.

For a day, anyway, to paraphrase the post 9/11 Le Figaro newspaper line, “The world will all be Americans.”

Click here for more EXCLUSIVE FOX Fan features on Inauguration 2009!

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My guys did it!   Just a few days after cameraman John Templeton and I left the good sailors of the French Navy frigate Premier Maitre L’Her in Djibouti, Africa, they snagged a bunch of pirates trying to make a move a ship off Somalia.

Watch the video!

Here’s what the commander messaged me :

Hello Greg,

Maybe you have heard about it : On the 1st we caught two pirate skiffs with 8 pirates, weapons, ladders.   We had to fire an intimidation shot, but it was OK.

Unfortunately you and John were not with us…

Maybe another time?

Regards,

Lt Cdr Alexis Beatrix

I’m not surprised.   In the week we were out with them they were checking out everything that moved on the Gulf of Aden, investigating suspicious fishing boats, bigger ships, criss-crossing back and forth between Somalia and Yemen in the Gulf.

Then there was new word that another French ship thwarted some more attacks this past Sunday.   And that the latest European effort coupled with moves by the US and other nations was putting a dent into the pirate problem.

Some more pics from the road!

Keep up the good work folks!

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I’ve spent a lot of Christmas times abroad for Fox.  Baghdad, Tora Bora, Pakistan, Indonesia.  But few have been as interesting or as pleasurable as the one cameraman John Templeton and I spent with the crew of the French Navy Frigate the Premier Maitre L’Her.

If you’ve been following our reports you know we’ve been busy covering the French sailors’ efforts to deal with one of the big problems of our  time : Rampant piracy threatening to strangle trade in the critical Gulf of Aden.

No, we didn’t see any pirates during our trip but it wasn’t for lack of trying by the French.  They worked literally around the clock hunting and scouring the waterway for any modern brigands, as well as protecting aid ships and cargo vessels.

At the same time they were incredibly informative and generous hosts.  The ship’s  Lt. Commander Alexi Beatrix and his whole crew were very helpful and supportive of our own mission while still attending to their own. Officers’ chef Jean-Yanick served up the most scrumptious chow we’ve ever tasted on an embed!

I can only hope the days of “American Fries” and other anti-French rhetoric are behind us.  The French are now critical allies with us on a number of fronts, including the piracy challenge.  And they’re great guys and gals.

So, as a small repayment for all the kindness, we’re posting a holiday “shout-out” from the frigate’s crew for the benefit of their folks back home in France.  Even if you don’t speak French you can imagine most of what’s said here, but I thought we’d translate the message to families from Lt. Commander Beatrix who appears just before the end :

“Today is Christmas Day.  We’re just completing an escort of a merchant vessel convoy through the Gulf of Aden.  Transit was safe and no pirate attack attempts occurred.  A few days ago we escorted a WFP cargo ship loaded with tons of humanitarian aid for the displaced people of Somalia.  Delivery occurred without any problem. This is to say that we are really in the mission of fighting piracy.  However, we don’t forget you and we want to tell you something :  Happy holidays!  We’re thinking of you!”

Ditto to that last sentiment.  With one more holiday wish:  That those pirates causing such havoc got some coal in their stockings and use it to steam away to the North Pole!

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On the way over to the election night party at the US Embassy in London I bragged to my cabbie that I hadn’t seen this much excitement about a race since the Kennedy-Nixon race in 1960 (ok I was 5 years old and supported Nixon but I remember).

At the bash itself it was pretty bipartisan but my trusted cameraman Mal noted a tell tale sign.   Everybody was lining up to take pictures with the Obama life-size cardboard cut out.  There were few takes for the McCain version.

By the end of the evening (early morning for us), all balance went out the window and a cheering throng of Barack supporters were delerious.

Not so the man himself.  As I watched his victory speech with dawn breaking over London I couldn’t help but notice what others did.  A new air of seriousness.   Solemnity.   As if it now truly hit him what a weight of responsibility he had inherited.

Expectations are high of course.  Way too high.   Around the world.  This is the fifth US Presidential election I ve covered from abroad and I’ve never seen anything like it.

From the dusty streets of Nairobi and Djibouti.   To the packed scenes in Bangkok.  To the olde world atmosphere in Berlin and Paris.  People were watching and involved.

Even in my London neighborhood my newspaper vendor and druggist would ask me regularly how the campaign was going.

Now they and…and .we…have a result.

And now…as most pundits quickly also noted….the hard part begins.

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The modern-day African piracy drama is now into its second week. Pirates are holding the Ukrainian ship Faina loaded with Russian-made tanks, guns and ammo of the Somalian coast. US Navy Destroyer Howard and other US ships have it cornered. Lt. Stephanie Murdok of the US Fifth Fleet confirmed to me the American position is firm: Those arms don’t get off-loaded. The fear is they could land in the wrong “hands.”

Islamist rebels have just said publicly they would love to have the weapons. The US knows there are Al Qaeda cells operating in Somalia as well. And I’ve been told by Kenyan maritime expert Andrew Mwangara that the shipment was actually headed not to the Kenya government as was publicly stated, but to Sudan, to feed a nascent civil war set to kick off there again. By the way, after Mwangara told me (and other media) that, the Kenyans threw him into jail!

And there are other concerns. There’s a Russian crew on board the hi-jacked ship tending those Russian arms. And a Russian Navy frigate headed towards the scene. The fear is that the Russians could take matters in their own hands and in another show of force of newly-flexing Moscow muscle, raid the ship with potentially nasty results. Maybe one reason I have been getting signs that the US might try to move in first!

Which brings me to why WE were in Africa for the past week (and based for part of that time in the eastern African country of Djibouti, just a few hundred miles from the piracy action). We were reporting on the launch of Africom, the new US military command covering the troubled continent.

Previously, Africa has been handed by parts of three different US military commands, and while there have been a variety of programs and operations conducted in Africa by the Pentagon, the feeling was that the place got short-changed.

As the commander of Africom, 4-star Army General (and veteran of numerous global hot spots including 1990’s Somalia) William “Kip” Ward told me, “The continent of Africa is important to global security, our security, the stability of the world.” And how!

While Africom has not been directly involved in this particular incident, the Fainahi-jacking does illustrate why the command was set up. Basically by working WITH African governments and militaries, it’s aim is to “head off” problems like this from happening. They call it war prevention rather than war fighting.

So Africom is working with navies around the continent to beef them up to deal with pirates, smugglers, and militants on the high seas. In a few countries they’ve actually helped to set up Coast Guards that didn’t even exist. Like in Somalia.

Africom will also be working to tamp down terrorism and militancy on the continent in what they describe as the “indirect” way. Working with armies around Africa to get them “up to speed” so a secure environment is created in which terrorists can’t thrive. Or if militants are there, they can be hunted down by the locals…not by the US.

Case in point, again, Somalia. We spent time in Uganda in our African trip and watched soldiers there being run through their paces by US Army instructors. Ugandan troops form the backbone of the African Union peacekeepers there.

And we spent time with Combined Joint Task Force Horn of Africa at Camp Lemonier in Djibouti, a US military operation now under Africom command. They have dispatched trainers to next-door Ethiopia. In a controversial move US has also backed an Ethiopian presence in Somalia. Also with the aim of tamping down the Islamists there.

(By the way, also dealing with the terror threat in the Horn of Africa area, but not seen by us as it’s top secret and running parallel to the Africom mission, Special Force, CIA and other US government agencies, “directly” tracking down and eliminating the terror threat in the region).

Finally, there’s one more theme coming out of the piracy crisis which is also intertwined with the just-launched Africom command. Remember that Russian Navy ship heading towards Somalia (and US navy vessels there)?

Well, there is a low-key super-power face-off developing in the Africa. China is all over the continent getting its hands on precious oil supplies and other resources. And in the process throwing a lot of money and influence around. Ditto Russia itself, already flush with energy profits. Its making a grab for more, and working its political might as well.

For its part the US needs to maintain access to African oil too (a quarter of our crude will come from Africa by 2015). And at the same it would like the governments and militaries in Africa to move in a more transparent and democratic direction. China and Russia for the most part don’t care what the countries do. China has freely sold weapons to Sudan helping to fuel oppression of its citizens and arm a civil war.

Africom officials deny to me that their mission is directly involved in countering a Russian or Chinese presence in Africa (or for that matter maintaining access to African oil). But most analysts argue the command at least indirectly will have that effect.

And so … in the case of this current Somalia piracy drama it could very well have been avoided, or at least scaled back, if…

-There was no China-backed Sudan conflicts to be fueled…
-No feeling by Russia that it could flex its muscles in Africa…
-No Islamists or Al Qaeda in Somalia to get a hold of the weapons…
-And a Somalian Navy or Coast Guard to head off the pirates in the first place!

Africom, where’ve you been?

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A fully armed “battle-rattle”-ed Marines Humvee patrol winding through the African desert and peering into bunkers looking for militants…and weapons.

Army instructors firing off blanks from the brush around a foot squad of African soldiers training them in the art of fending off an ambush.

And Navy Seabees, sweating in the blistering African sun, digging and installing a water distribution system for impoverished villagers.

Just three views of the new US military command Africom which we’ve had a chance to take in during the past week, traveling around this diverse continent. October 1st was the “roll-out” day for the command but we wanted to get a jump on things for Fox so we headed down to Africa a bit early.

Previously, Africa had been covered by parts of three different US military commands, and while there have been a variety of programs and operations conducted in Africa by the Pentagon, the feeling was that the place got short-changed.

As the commander of Africom, 4-star Army General (and veteran of numerous global hot spots including 1990’s Somalia) William “Kip” Ward told me, “The continent of Africa is important to global security, our security, the stability of the world.”

In addition, the thinking has been that more than just the military guys needed to be involved in the project. Folks from the State Department and other government agencies needed to pitch in as well.

Former African ambassador and Ward’s civilian number two Mary Yates explained, “It gives us the opportunity to bring the assets of the US military in a supporting role of those needs.”

Presto…Africom. A “combatant” command with a difference. Yes, if there’s a military operation that needs to be conducted in Africa they can run it. But time and time again in my discussions officials there stressed the command was less about war fighting and more about war prevention.

Our first stop was the central African country of Uganda, better known to most people as the home base for the 1970s cruel and despotic leader Idi Amin. Now it’s a colorful country with a growing economy and a friendly attitude towards the US. The US military runs a number of training program for local troops , including some at base not far from the infamous Entebbe airport.

As the US Army Lieutenant in charge of the trainers there explained to me the troops were “dynamite” students and they really picked up on the real-life lessons. In addition to that ambush drill I mentioned earlier they were taught how to approach and take out a fortified bunker as well breaching a barbed wire defense.

The idea is help the locals create a more stable and secure environment with the aim of either keeping bad guys out. Or having African troops (and not the US) deal with the bad guys themselves. “In a hundred years,” one offical noted to me, “If Africom hasn’t fought a single battle in Africa we will have done our job.”

Then it was on to the eastern African country of Djibouti, home to the only US military base in Africa, Camp Lemonier, Joint Combined Task Force Horn of Africa. The area has also (and seems still to be ) home to a number of terrorists. Usama bin Laden was in nearby Sudan in the 90’s. Across the Gulf of Aden the USS Cole was hit in 2000 and there have been terror incidents there ever since. And Somalia, just 12 miles away, remains the hideout its believed for Al Qaeda and Islamists.

If there is ANY “direct action” against any foes of the US in Africa it comes from here. Not so much that Marine patrol I noted earlier which is more security than “kill and capture.” But activities we did not have the chance to take in as its not in the direct Africom remit : Special Force, CIA and other civilian agencies tracking and targeting extremists.

More of the work in Djibouti (and of Africom) is of the “indirect” kind, like once again training up militaries like Ethiopian troops who now happen to be in Somalia quelling Islamists. And even more, civil affairs projects, like that Seabee-built water system. We also dropped in on a school that had been fixed up in their off hours by troops from Djibouti . This is full scale “hearts and minds” stuff. As one Africom official explained to me, “we can call in that chit later.” Meaning information, help, tips.

As we fought to get on the air amid all the other news on Wednesday October 1st with reports about the launch of the command there was other media reporting based on the Washington DC Africom presentation. I’m not sure all the Africom folks were pleased with the coverage. First of all there was more interest in the latest piracy incident off the coast of Somalia involving a Ukrainian arms ship.

But also complaints which had been piling up over the last year or so about the command were dredged out again : That the mission wasn’t focused; that it was aimed less at satisfying Africa and more the US strategic, political and economic needs on the continent; that it stepped on the turf of aid workers in Africa.

Concerns echoed by Africans. For example there are worries that the US will be opening up a new front in the War on Terror across the continent. As Ugandan newspaper editor Daniel Kalinaki explained to us, “Having an American base can make you a target for terror groups.”

All those kinds of concerns forced Africom to give up on the idea for now of basing its headquarters in Africa proper (it couldn’t find an appropriate country willing to host it) and the so the HQ is in Stuttgart.

But everybody at Africom I talked to is convinced that over time they can win Africans over and that many countries and leaders in Africa are already supportive of the mission.

As for Congress (which cut the initial budget for the command) and the rest of Washington, the command, I think, probably SHOULD play up what’s in it for the US. There’s a lot :

The terror threat from Africa is very real. A new Al Qaeda chapter has opened up in northern Africa just ready to export carnage to American targets.

Maintaining access to natural resources on the continent (by 2015 25% of our oil will come from here).

As well as keeping up with the global rival “Jones”’s China and Russia moving in here big time.

Plus keeping bad stuff like disease drugs and illegal immigration from being transferred from there to our shores.

And, oh yes, helping the African people. Who are in need of and worthy of that help. We were so taken by the people of Uganda. Friendly, mellow, hard-working, handsome. Ditto the very cute and studious kids of Djibouti…the next generation of Africa…the ones we ll have to be dealing with for decades to come.

As Specialist Samuel Fitch of a US Army civil affairs which helped out in that school fix-up project said, “It feels good. That’s what we’re doing it for, the kids. They’re the future.”

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