Now, though, in my glass-ceiling-smashing job, I really didn’t feel like I could say no. Dan Rather had reported from many war zones, covering the Soviet-Afghan war in a mujahideen headdress. In my effort to make history, how would it look if I summarily said, You can’t ask a single mom to do that?
So there I was, with a security expert tightening the straps on my 15-pound bulletproof vest and measuring my head for a helmet. Rick Kaplan had assured me that we’d be escorted by the military’s top brass and would be safe. I knew how important it was to get out there and report on a war growing more unpopular by the day. But still—sometimes I wondered what the hell I was doing.
THE WAR HAD begun in March of 2003. Three weeks later, Baghdad fell, the statue of Saddam pulled to the ground. President Bush landed on an aircraft carrier—memorable both for the flight suit that made it look like he was wearing a sizable codpiece and his declaration to the troops, in front of a huge MISSION ACCOMPLISHED banner, that “because of you, the tyrant has fallen and Iraq is free.”
We know what happened next: “free” Iraq in free fall; the preppy civilian Paul Bremer put in charge; ordinary Sunnis, including professors and teachers, ejected from their jobs, many locked up in that hellhole Abu Ghraib. Insurgency, civil war, Bremer in way over his nicely coiffed head.
It would be impossible to cover the war well if I couldn’t get a word with the president of the United States, and given the chilly state of things between me and the Bush administration, that was a distinct possibility. A year after my interview with the future First Lady, I pissed them off again when I interviewed Secretary of State Colin Powell on the first anniversary of 9/11.
I had gotten to know him when I worked at the Pentagon, and I did a warm profile of him on TODAY. But in the unedited interview, with the “war on terror” expanding rapidly and Cheney and Rumsfeld beating the drum about regime change in Iraq, I had to ask Powell about the specious attempt to connect Iraq with 9/11, the potential of a long-term commitment to the region, and our unbreakable loyalty to Saudi Arabia, where most of the hijackers were from. After the interview, Powell literally ripped off his mic and tried to slip out without shaking my hand.
Later, I interviewed Tim Russert about Bush’s low-energy pre-invasion press conference; I quoted Tom Shales, who described it as “soporific.” Tom Touchet received an irate call from the White House press office: “If she continues along these lines we will have to cut off access.”
Finally, détente: Just before I left TODAY, David Gregory, who was well liked by the administration （Bush gave him the nickname “Stretch”）， did me a solid, brokering a meeting with White House communications director Nicolle Wallace and adviser Dan Bartlett. I finally got to clear the air.
My second day at CBS, I was granted an interview with President Bush. By then, the war was three years old and going disastrously: 3,000 U.S. troops had been killed and over 20,000 wounded. Brent Scowcroft, national security adviser to Bush’s father, said publicly, “Iraq is a failing venture.”
We had a walk-and-talk （mostly in circles） through the halls of the White House. With the fifth anniversary of 9/11 coming up, I asked Bush what he recalled about that day.
“I remember the horror, and I remember the loss of life,” he said. “I also remember the lessons…I resolved around that time I would do everything to protect the American people. And that, frankly, has defined much of how I think as the president. For me, it’s not just a moment. You know, it’s really been a changed life.”
While it felt good to be back in the business of questioning the president of the United States, I was keenly aware that I was on thin ice. If I got too tough, I ran the risk of being blackballed again. If I soft-pedaled it, I didn’t deserve to be the anchor of the evening news.
I noted that people admired him for sticking to his principles, but if circumstances changed, could that be seen as inflexibility?
“I am inflexible when it comes to making sure we don’t get hit again,” Bush said, “and you bet I’m gonna remain strong about making sure that the world we leave behind is a more peaceful world.”
Despite the fact that the invasion has actually galvanized terrorists, I thought. But I kept that to myself.
THE REPUBLICANS WERE routed in the midterms—Bush called it “a thumpin’。” Public support for the war cratered. Rumsfeld was out. Al-Qaeda had gained a foothold in Iraq, bombing a mosque, one of the Shiites’ holiest places, hoping to exploit the havoc and escalate civil war.