"We Are Intervening"

CNN-US and CNN International are in simulcast with the breaking news of French President Sarkozy: “We are intervening” in Libya.

CNN's journalists covering the story:

Arwa Damon is in Libya (@arwaCNN)
Nic Robertson is in Tripoli (@nicrobertsonCNN)
Reza Sayah is in Cairo (@sayahCNN)
Jim Bitterman and Jill Dougherty (w/Sec. of State Clinton) are in Paris (@cnnjill)
Ed Henry is with President Obama in Brazil (@edhenrycnn)
Richard Roth is in New York at the United Nations (@richardrothcnn)
Mohammed Jamjoom is in Abu Dhabi (@jamjooncnn)
Leone Lakhani is in Bahrain (@leonecnn)
Fred Pleitgen is in Berlin (@fpleitgencnn)
Diana Magnay is in Rome (@dimagnaycnn)
Atika Shubert is in London (@atika_cnn)
Wolf Blitzer (@wolfblitzercnn), John King (@johnkingcnn), & Barbara Starr (barbarastarrcnn) reporting


We will update this post with information on reporters and programming as it becomes available throughout the weekend.

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"Amanpour." debuts; Iranian missile sequel

Iran launched more missiles overnight, and Domestic briefly took the International feed so that Reza Sayah (in Islamabad) could explain the meaning behind the tests:

Atia Abawi reported Sunday on the latest American/NATO deaths in Afghanistan as well as an unsuccessful suicide attack that targeted a very popular member of the government:

This morning, Rob Marciano gave us a look at the typhoon that caused massive flooding in the Philippines, followed by a live report from Dan Rivers in Manila:

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Christiane Amanpour's new program finally debuted on Domestic this weekend -- here's a rundown of this week's show:

Her first guest was Afghanistan's president Hamid Karzai (in Kabul). They discussed the disputed election results (the election committee has now given Karzai the 50% of the vote needed to avoid a runoff), General McChrystal's request for more American troops to be sent to the country, and Christiane also played a portion of an interview she conducted with him in Kandahar in December of 2001 one week before he originally took office. At that time, he felt that the country would be peaceful and stable, which did not happen because the focus of the international community turned elsewhere:

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The next guest was Special Envoy to Afghanistan/Pakistan Richard Holbrooke, who said that the comparisons between Afghanistan and Viet Nam don't hold up because Viet Nam was no threat to the US. He declined to say whether he agreed with the request for more troops but did answer regarding why the strategy is not yet in place:

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Christiane's third guest was Pakistan's foreign minister, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, who says that the new administration in his country has successfully turned the tide of public opinion so that the public now sees the fight against terrorism as their fight. (I would have thought it was more the assassination of Benazir Bhutto and the recent spate of suicide bombings that did that, but whatever.) He also says they are not reluctant to take on terrorists, including the Afghan Taliban who find sanctuary within Pakistan:

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Quick -- name the current head of NATO. Well, if you can't, Christiane interviewed him next, so you can get to know the former prime minister of Denmark, Anders Fogh Rasmusse. His first decision as PM was to send troops into Afghanistan. He says, "We have to do more now so we can do less in the future." Christiane then asks him a great question:

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The final interview of the program was an exclusive with Zimbabwe's president, Robert Mugabe. He believes that it is time for the international community to lift the sanctions imposed on the country, but when asked why the election went so badly, why white Zambabweans are being forced off their land, etc, he was, shall we say, less than forthcoming.

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Christiane closed the program with some words about what future shows would be like:

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Where in the World...?

MONDAY: Joe Johns was in Raleigh, North Carolina; Wolf Blitzer and Michael Ware were both in New York.

TUESDAY: Kyra Phillips was in for Rick Sanchez.

WEDNESDAY: John Zarella was in Honduras; Sanjay Gupta was in New York in the morning and in Philadelphia in the evening.

THURSDAY: Ed Henry and Brian Todd were both in Pittsburgh for the G-20 (although only Brian got tear-gassed!)

FRIDAY: Betty Nguyen was in for Tony Harris; TJ Holmes was in for Rick; Rick was in New York and filling in for Campbell Brown.

Wow, that was a long post.... See you Thursday!

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Iranian election protests continue

Friday, Reza Sayah reported on the latest protests in Iran, as a government-sanctioned rally was hijacked by election protesters:

Sunday, Atia Abawi reported on an internet message from Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Omar:

And Nic Robertson was in Rome, where the bodies of six Italian paratroopers killed in Afghanistan were returned home to a heroes' welcome:

With terrorist arrests in New York and Colorado making headlines, Betty Nguyen spoke with Peter Bergen about the seriousness of the situation and whether it is now contained:

(And although it's becoming a more common error as time passes, Peter Bergen did not "conduct" the bin Laden interview, he produced it. The reporter who conducted it was Peter Arnett.)

Last week I posted some of Cal Perry's reports about the release of the 'shoe-thrower' after almost a year in an Iraqi prison. Friday Michael Holmes showed the BackStory of how Cal got the story despite having the flu:

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Where in the World...?

MONDAY: Tom Foreman was in New Haven, Connecticut. TJ Holmes was in for Rick Sanchez.

TUESDAY: Chris Lawrence was in Baghdad (with Vice President Biden); Lou Dobbs was in Washington; Campbell Brown was in Carlsbad, California.

WEDNESDAY: Arwa Damon was back in Jakarta (per her tweet). Fredricka Whitfield was in for Kyra Phillips; Rick Sanchez was in New York City and also in for Campbell.

THURSDAY: Anderson Cooper was in Los Angeles. TJ was in for John Roberts; Fredricka was in for Kyra.

FRIDAY: Anderson was in Los Angeles; John King was at the White House to interview President Obama. TJ was in for John Roberts; Betty Nguyen was in for Kyra; Dr. Phil McGraw was in for Larry King.

SATURDAY: Nic Robertson was in Rome (above).

SUNDAY: Soledad O'Brien was in Havana, Cuba.

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Talking to the Taliban

Prior to returning to Iraq last month, Michael Ware spent several weeks in Pakistan, and last Thursday we learned why ... he travelled to the Pakistan/Afghanistan border to give viewers a look at the mountainous terrain that allows Taliban fighters to slip back and forth with such ease (a border that US/NATO forces are unable to cross in pursuit.)

He also got a major exclusive -- for the first time since the war began in late 2001, a Pakistani military commander admitted to him on-camera something long assumed but never before confirmed: that they still have contacts amongst the major players of the Taliban leadership. In fact, the spokesman says they are willing to help open lines of communication between the US and the Taliban, an important first step in ending this war, one that can't be won by force of arms alone.

Here is Michael's original report as it aired on AC360:

Friday, members of the Obama administration were already reacting positively to the news. Here, Heidi Collins gives a brief update, which is immediately followed by a report from Atia Abawi, who is currently embedded with the Marines in Helmand province. The Marines are engaging in the new counterinsurgency doctrine of clearing and holding an area in the hopes of rebuilding the political and social infrastructure of the country:

This morning, more follow-up as Michael spoke with US Special Envoy Richard Holbrooke about the possibility of meeting with Taliban leaders and working towards a way to end this war:

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Late last week, Reza Aslan was a guest on AC360 to update the latest political maneuverings inside Iran:

And over the weekend, Reza Sayah was in Washington, DC to cover a rally held in support of the Iranian people protesting the stolen election:

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Where in the World...?

MONDAY: Suzanne Malveaux was still in Moscow; Sean Callebs was in Anchorage, Alaska (no word as to whether they could see each other). Alina Cho was in for John Roberts.

TUESDAY: Kiran Chetry anchored from Los Angeles; Anderson Cooper and Soledad O'Brien went on the air at 10:30am PT to cover the Michael Jackson memorial, so Kyra Phillips and Rick Sanchez were not on the air. Alina was in for John.

WEDNESDAY: Paula Newton and Suzanne Malveaux were both in L'Aquila, Italy, covering the G8 summit; Kiran and Anderson were both back in New York. Alina was in for John; Ali Velshi was in for Kyra.

THURSDAY: Joe Johns was in for John; Ali was in for Kyra; Jim Moret was in for Larry King; Erica Hill was in for Anderson (who was on his way to Ghana to interview President Obama at Cape Coast Castle, above.)

FRIDAY: Ed Henry was in Rome. Joe was in for John; Ali was in for Kyra; Kitty Pilgrim was in for Lou Dobbs; Erica was in for Anderson.

SATURDAY: Anderson, Ed, and Suzanne were all in Accra, Ghana; Reza Sayah was in Washington; David Mattingly was in Beulah, Florida. Tom Foreman was in for Fredericka Whitfield.

SUNDAY: Jeffrey Toobin was in Washington. Wolf Blitzer was in for John King; Tom was in for Fredericka.

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More from Iraq and Iran

I actually hadn't planned on doing more clips from Michael Ware today, but the incredible marathon of reporting he did the past couple of days has just been amazing: from Sunday to Tuesday, for Domestic and International, he did 40 reports! But since I can't fit them ALL on here ... heh ... I pulled a couple of clips that I think were exceptional looks at what he does so very well.

First is a piece from Tuesday's Your World Today, with Jim Clancy giving an overview of the story and then Michael's report on the handover ceremony:

On BackStory that same day, a behind-the-scenes look at the filming of the report, followed by a chat with Michael Holmes:

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Cal Perry had an investigative piece air this week on the way veterans are being cared for upon their return. Not surprisingly, we aren't doing all that well in that regard. If ever a group of Americans deserved the best health care possible, it is these men and women:

Reza Sayah gave us a look at the reports out of Iran that Newsweek's reporter there -- detained by the government some 10 days ago -- has "confessed" to working against the regime. This is scary stuff, and I hope there is some way of getting all these detainees released:

We can only hope that the CNN=MJ programming will abate soon.



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Can't Stop the Signal

The demonstrations and violence in Iran continues, and the ability for international media to cover the events became more difficult, with authorities first limiting reports to one per day and then enforcing a rule that everything must be cleared by the state prior to broadcast. Friday, Reza Sayah was able to do his single report, in which he spoke first with Hala Gorani and then Wolf Blitzer. Both portions were carried on Domestic:

Reza has not been on the air since Friday, presumably because the monitors are not approving his reports. Iranians are bravely risking imprisonment and worse to get information out to the rest of the world.

On NewsRoom yesterday, they showed a clip of Michael Holmes talking to Ivan Watson about how Iranian police and the offical thug-squad known as the Basij deal with unrest:

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There is also news from other international fronts -- Phil Black reported Sunday on the massive bomb set off in Kirkuk which created the largest death toll so far this year in Iraq:

And this morning he had a report on the situation in Mosul, where there are serious concerns about whether the lid can be kept on the violence when US troops are required to leave Iraqi cities next week:

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Nic Robertson reported this morning on a campaign by the Pakistani army to retake Buner from the Taliban:

Nic also has been reporting on the escape of a New York Times reporter who has been held captive by the Taliban for the past seven months. Media outlets had not publicized David Rohde's abduction in Kabul last November for fear of putting him in increased danger from his captors, but when Nic met with the spokesman for Mullah Omar recently, he did ask about him:

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Where in the World...?

MONDAY: TJ Holmes was in for John Roberts; Kitty Pilgrim was in for Lou Dobbs.

TUESDAY: Reza Sayah was in Tehran; Christiane Amanpour was in London; Ivan Watson was in Istanbul. TJ was in for Rick Sanchez.

WEDNESDAY: John King was in Cleveland. Wolf Blitzer was in for Larry King.

THURSDAY: Ivan was in Atlanta; Gary Tuchman blogged while on vacation in Morocco; Anderson Cooper tried to get to Washington for an interview but his flight was unable to land there and went back to New York. Don Lemon was in for Heidi Collins; Wolf was in for Larry, who was in Dallas to interview the Jonas Brothers. Campbell Brown's program was bumped for a Money & Main Stspecial. Domestic took the International feed overnight to cover Ayatollah Khamenei's speech.

FRIDAY: Carol Costello was in for Kiran Chetry; Betty Nguyen was in for Heidi; Wolf was in for Larry; Erica Hill was in for Anderson. Domestic took the International feed overnight to cover the Iranian protests.

SATURDAY: Betty and TJ were on an hour early to cover the Iranian protests; Nic Robertson reported from Islamabad. Domestic took the International feed overnight to cover the Iranian protests.

SUNDAY: Phil Black was in Baghdad and Mosul (above).

(Also, it seems like Ivan Watson and Josh Levs were on nearly constantly all weekend, they really did an incredible job.)

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Iran Rocks the Vote; Pakistan Bombing

Christiane Amanpour is in Tehran to cover the elections, and for Tuesday's American Morning, she waded into some of the political rallies in the streets to talk with supporters of both candidates:

Wednesday, she showed more rallies on NewsRoom and then spoke via phone with Heidi Collins:

Immediately following Christiane's report, Heidi spoke with Reza Aslan about the meaning of this election:

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Tuesday a suicide bomber struck a major hotel in Peshawar, Pakistan. Rick Sanchez spoke with Nic Robertson (in London) about the attack:

Nic was also on Richard Quest's International program to talk about the bombing:

Wolf Blitzer spoke with Reza Sayah about the attack, so similar to one carried out last year at the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad:

On Wednesday, Reza also had a look at the Pakistani police officer who recently stopped a suicide bomber from entering a police barracks:

That's it for me this week ... as always, here's hoping that the CNN teams stay safe as they report from around the world; best of luck to the Iranian people as they vote (may the best man win!) and to the Pakistani people as they fight for control of their country.

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Whack-a-mole

Sunday Nic Robertson visited with Don Lemon in the Atlanta NewsRoom. They discussed the whack-a-mole offensive going on now in Pakistan:

On Friday, Don spoke to Reza Sayah in Islamabad about the significance of the attacks this week in Lahore and Peshawar as well as the difficulties in fighting suicide bombers:

Also Friday, John King hosted The Situation Room and spoke with Fareed Zakaria about the bombing of one of the campaign offices of President Ahmadinejad in Zahedan, Iran:

As President Obama was preparing to host Palestinian President Abbas this week, Ben Wedeman gave us an overview of what the call for "settlement freezes" is all about. (Being able to actually SHOW the viewers these things is why CNN is the best at international coverage, period.) He also explains why a current Israeli development plan may effectively end the possibility of the two-state solution:

Finally, a lighter note... John King talks to Richard Quest about Prince Harry's trip to New York City and why the trip is so important for a young man whose image was badly in need of some growing-up:

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Where in the World...?

MONDAY (MEMORIAL DAY): Morgan Neill reported from Tokyo. TJ Holmes was in for John Roberts; Alina Cho was in for Kyra Phillips; Drew Griffin was in for Rick Sanchez; Suzanne Malveaux was in for Wolf Blitzer; Kitty Pilgrim was in for Lou Dobbs; Ryan Seacrest was in for Larry King (probably pre-taped last Friday). No Bias, No Bull was pre-empted for a replay of the "Time 100 Most Influential" special; Anderson Cooper 360 was pre-empted for replays of "Extreme Challenges: The Next 100 Days" and the "Time 100 Most Influential" specials.

TUESDAY: David Gergen was on from Wilmington, North Carolina. TJ was in for John Roberts; Alina was in for Kyra; John King was in for Anderson Cooper.

WEDNESDAY: Reza Sayah was on from Islamabad; Ed Henry was at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, where he was covering the president's trip; Ali Velshi was in Detroit covering the GM developments. A piece ran of Zain Verjee at the DMZ between North and South Korea, but it may have been filmed on her last trip there? TJ was in for John Roberts; Don Lemon was in for Kyra; John King was in for Anderson.

THURSDAY: Fred Pleitgen was on from London. Rob Marciano was in for John Roberts; Alina was in for Kiran Chetry; Don was in for Kyra; Kitty was in for Lou; John King was in for Anderson. Roland Martin subbed for Campbell Brown for the final time (for this maternity leave, anyway...). Cal Perry tweeted that he was wrapping up his rotation in Baghdad and heading back to Beirut; Phil Black will be covering the next rotation.

FRIDAY: John King was a guest on Ed Henry's radio show. No Bias, No Bull was pre-empted for a special from Ali Velshi and Christine Romans titled "How the Wheels Came Off." Rob was in for John Roberts; Alina was in for Kiran; Don was in for Kyra; John King was in for Wolf; Kitty was in for Lou; Joy Behar was in for Larry King; John King was in for Anderson, completing today's trifecta and making him an official Ironman of CNN Domestic!

SATURDAY: all quiet.

SUNDAY: Nic Robertson was in Atlanta; Ali was in Toronto (above).

That's it for me today. See you Thursday!

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Pakistan, Afghanistan ... and MOB visits PDX

Stan Grant (in Kabul) spoke to a former high-ranking Taliban official about his internment at Guantanamo Bay and his return to Afghanistan. Stan also discusses a major drug seizure in Helmand province:

Afghanistan supplies most of the illegal opiate trade to the world, but Reza Sayah reports that Iran is doing some PR to make it clear that the drugs are not welcome in that country:

Ivan Watson was one of the reporters flown into the Swat Valley by the Pakistani military so that they could show off captured Taliban turf. Friday, a brief bit of footage from that excursion:

Saturday, a longer look at the bunkers as the tour continues, but Ivan also points out that the military took reporters on a similar tour early last year. At the end of the clip, a brief Q&A from Islamabad:

And what about all those refugees? Yesterday Dan Rivers reported from a refugee camp near Peshawar:

Using your cell phones, Americans can text the word “SWAT" to the number 20222 and make a $5 contribution that will help the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees provide tents, clothing, food, and medicine to hundreds of thousands of affected people.

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Well, here's a familiar face we haven't seen on ATC in awhile ... this past week, PBS has been airing a documentary by Miles O'Brien titled Blueprint America: Road to the Future. Part of the program was filmed last month here in Portland, and I pulled a couple minutes of it:

The locals don't like anyone bragging up the city, afraid it will bring more people up here, so shhh... But it was great to see Miles riding the Max and seeing some of the sights. I still really miss his NASA coverage on CNN. You can keep up with Miles on Twitter and True/Slant.

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Where in the World...?

MONDAY: Wolf Blitzer hosted TSR from New York, where he accepted the Peabody Award given to TPBTOT; Larry King also hosted his program from New York all week as he promoted his new book.

TUESDAY: Anderson Cooper was one of the guest hosts for Larry King Live.

WEDNESDAY: Candy Crowley was in New York.

THURSDAY: Candy was back in Washington; Cal Perry was on from Baghdad (above). Don Lemon was in for Heidi Collins.

FRIDAY: Dan Rivers reported from Islamabad; Ivan Watson was in the Swat Valley region of Pakistan; Reza Sayah was in Zahedan, Iran. Don was in for Heidi; John Roberts was in for Wolf (from New York); Kitty Pilgrim was in for Lou Dobbs; Ryan Seacrest was in for Larry.

SATURDAY: Ivan was back in Islamabad. Alina Cho was in for Betty Nguyen; Randi Kaye was in for Don.

SUNDAY: Stan Grant was on from Kabul; Dan had a piece on from Peshawar. Alina was in for Betty; Randi was in for Don. Domestic carried the International feed for about 20 minutes starting around 1amET to cover North Korea's nuclear test, with Zain Verjee and Don Riddell hosting.

That's it for me today... hope you had a good Memorial Day. Now it's back to work tomorrow. Speaking of which (nice segue there, huh?):

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