An Update on Iraq and Iran

Today, at the top of the show, we had debriefs on the latest state of play in Iraq and Iran from NPR defense correspondent Guy Raz and NPR diplomatic correspondent Mike Shuster.

We started by talking about the recent comments by Lit. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, who was Commander of Coalition Ground Forces in Iraq from June 2003 to June 2004. On Friday, he told a group of journalists that, regarding Iraq, America is "living a nightmare with no end in sight."

Guy just got back from three weeks in Iraq -- his tenth trip -- and we talked about:

-- whether the U.S. is closer to achieving its goals in Iraq (and what those goals are, as distinguished from simply talking about troop safety)
-- how Pentagon officials were reacting to Lt. Gen. Sanchez
-- and an incident Raz had where he was detained by the U.S. military (which, of course, he covers)

With Shuster, we talked about:

-- the fact that Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. general in Iraq, told CNN last week that there is "no question" that Iranian arms are ending up in the hands of Iraqi insurgents.
--- whether the U.S. will go to war with Iran
-- and whether Iran is developing nuclear weapons materials

Here's the thing: there is SO much to keep up on with Iraq, Iran, and Afghanistan.

How much do you try to keep up on the developments? Do you focus on what happening on the ground; how it it's affecting U.S. troops returning home; or another lens? What do you hunt for and learn about?

Farai Chideya

6:08 PM ET | 10-16-2007 | permalink

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