NBC correspondent to Bush: Be diplomat

by Aamer Madhani

One of the most interesting anecdotes in NBC Iraq correspondent Richard Engel's new book didn't take place on the streets of Baghdad but in the Oval Office.

In February 2007, weeks after President Bush announced his plans for the troop buildup in Iraq, Engel, one of the longest serving Western correspondents in Iraq, received an out-of-the-blue invitation to sit down with President Bush, Engel writes in the recently published "War Journal: My Five Years in Iraq."

NBC Washington Bureau Chief Tim Russert warned him to use caution in his off-camera meeting with the president. "Don't tell them anything you wouldn't broadcast...You want to make sure you stay a reporter."

But by Engel's account, he offered the President a surprising amount of analysis, commentary and advice.

Engel writes that he told Bush that Abdul Aziz Hakim, the leader of the Supreme Council of Islamic Revolution in Iraq and one of the White House's close allies in Iraq, had a reputation of being a liar and was set on establishing an oil rich mini-state allied with Iran. He also told the president that Moqtada al-Sadr's ambition was to become the Hassan Nasrallah [the Hezbollah leader] of Iraq.

"I was laying it all out, insulting the men the president was counting on to democratize Iraq," Engel writes. "Hakim, Sadr, Maliki and his aides weren't up to it or interested."

But perhaps Engel's most striking comment to Bush was some brash advice.

"Sir, you need to become a diplomat," Engel recalls he told Bush. "Since you have been in office, you have focused on war. I think now you need to have a peace process and put the region back together. You have been a war president. You need to become a diplomat."

Engel's meeting with Bush is particularly interesting considering some of the harsh criticism the network's news division has endured recently from the GOP.

Last month, the White House accused NBC News of selectively editing an interview of Bush by Engel that was conducted during the president's recent trip to the Middle East. The White House also seems to be irked by some of the more liberal commentators on the NBC-affiliated cable news channel MSNBC.

"I'm sure you don't want people to conclude that there is really no distinction between the 'news' as reported on NBC and the 'opinion' as reported on MSNBC, despite the increasing blurring of those lines," Bush counselor Ed Gillespie wrote to NBC News President Steve Capus in a letter that was released to the public.

I will be a leading a discussion today with Engel at the Chicago Tribune Printers Row Book Fair. The discussion begins at 1 p.m. at the University Center, 525 S. State St. Readers of the Swamp are encouraged to stop by and take part in the conversation.