Fox will note U.S. accomplishments in Iraq

Fox News host Chris Wallace plans a counterstrike Sunday against his old ABC colleague Ted Koppel, claiming Koppel’s controversial roll call of slain U.S. troops on last Friday’s “Nightline” failed to explain what they died for.

“I’ll take Ted at his word that ABC did not intend it as a political statement or a ratings stunt,” says Wallace. “But when you look at all the factors — the one-year anniversary of President Bush declaring major combat over, the fact the U.S. has just had a rough stretch there, all the promotion he did for it — I think it came out that way.”

So Wallace says this week’s “Fox News Sunday” (8 a.m. on KAYU-28 in Spokane) “will list the accomplishments of U.S. troops, such as ousting Saddam Hussein and rebuilding the infrastructure.

“We are in no way saying the U.S. mission in Iraq is an unalloyed success, or that there aren’t serious questions — which we have raised ourselves,” he says.

“But to just list the names of fallen soldiers without context is like listing the names of those who died on D-Day without talking about what the invasion accomplished.”

ABC says the “Nightline” broadcast was intended solely as a tribute to the soldiers. It was watched in an estimated 4.7 million households, 29 percent more than other “Nightline” broadcasts last week.