"They told us they would bring democracy...They brought us nothing but death and killing...they brought mass destruction to Baghdad"

Lara Logan is the kind of television journalist you rarely see anymore. Attractive young talking heads are a dime a dozen, but an attractive young talking head with a brain, the courage to report from an active war zone, and a commitment to delivering the truth is almost unheard of.

Logan has created a segment called "The Battle for Haifa Street" for CBS News, which the network has refused to run on their nightly Cupcake News with Katie "Cupcake" Couric, because "the Executive Producer of the Evening News thought some of the images in it were a bit strong­ plus on that day the program was already packed with other Iraq news."

Media Channel has background on this cowardice and craven sucking up to the Bush Administration on the part of the News Division that Edward R. Murrow Built, including the reprinted text of an e-mail that Lara Logan sent to colleagues at CBS News, an e-mail which I am re-reprinting here (emphases mine):

From: lara logan
Subject: help

The story below only appeared on our CBS website and was not aired on CBS. It is a story that is largely being ignored, even though this is taking place every single day in central Baghdad, two blocks from where our office is located.

Our crew had to be pulled out because we got a call saying they were about to be killed, and on their way out, a civilian man was shot dead in front of them as they ran.

I would be very grateful if any of you have a chance to watch this story and pass the link on to as many people you know as possible. It should be seen. And people should know about this.

If anyone has time to send a comment to CBS – about the story – not about my request, then that would help highlight that people are interested and this is not too gruesome to air, but rather too important to ignore.

Many, many thanks.

It's important that Sean McManus, the head of CBS News, be told that we are aware of this story and that we believe it should be seen, especially as the Crawford Caligula gets ready to do even more damage by escalating our presence in this civil ware solely because he is by nature unable and unwilling to admit failure. Americans have not just a RIGHT, but an OBLIGATION to know what is being done in our name. The Vietnam War ended because Americans saw on the evening news what was happening in a war without point, a war without strategy, a war seemingly without end, and we demanded accountability and action from our government to end it. McManus may feel that he is doing a public service by propping up George W. Bush's war effort. He may feel he is serving his stockholders by caving in and sucking up to the right wing media echo chamber. But he does not seem to realize that the right-wing echo chamber will be satisfied with nothing less than the kind of paeans to the Glory and the Power that is George W. Bush that run on Fox News. If he wants to join them, then let him just go ahead and do it. But if he wants to run a news division that Murrow would have been proud of, he should run this piece.

Watch the video here.