The war in Iraq is easily the biggest news story of this decade, possibly this generation. More than 130,000 Americans are serving there. More than 4,000 have died since the invasion.

And yet ABC, CBS and NBC have pulled full-time correspondents from the country as the television networks' focus shifts to Afghanistan and Pakistan, according to a piece in the New York Times.

That's because of rising tensions in Afghanistan and dipping violence in Iraq. Many media outlets, television networks included, are trimming staff and expenses, and the maintaining a Baghdad bureau is pricey.

According to the Times, the three networks are maintaining skeleton crews of producers and Iraqi employees to react to breaking news. Correspondents will fly in for specific stories.

(Of course, newspapers and magazines are also cutting their presence in Baghdad, though The News Tribune's parent company, The McClatchy Co., maintains a full-time bureau.)

TV evening news broadcasts are also de-emphasizing Iraq. The three networks combined to devote 423 minutes to Iraq this year through Dec. 19, according to the Times. Last year it was 1,888 through the same timeframe. (There also wasn't a full-fledged presidential election last year.)

The habits of American viewers also plays a role, former NBC News correspondent Mike Boettcher told the Times.

“Americans like their wars movie length and with a happy ending,” he said. “If the war drags on and there is no happy ending, Americans start to squirm in their seats. In the case of television news, they began changing the channel when a story from Iraq appeared.”

(U.S. Army photo)

About 60 percent active-duty service members are "uncertain or pessimistic" about President-elect Barack Obama becoming commander in chief, according to a Military Times poll.

This shouldn’t be a total surprise. Almost half of the 1,900 respondents describe their political views as conservative or very conservative. Only 13 percent identified themselves as Democrats.

Obama's lack of military experience and his pledge to pull combat troops out of Iraq in the first 16 months of his presidency seemed to trouble service members, the poll showed.

But the poll isn’t scientific, the article reminds readers:

"The responses are not representative of the opinions of the military as a whole. The survey group overall under-represents minorities, women and junior enlisted service members, and over-represents soldiers.

But as a snapshot of the professional corps, the responses highlight the challenges Obama faces as he prepares to take command of military careerists with different political and cultural attitudes."

But with that in mind, here are a few of its findings:

● Less than a third of respondents are optimistic about Obama.

● Eight in 10 black service members are optimisitc about the president-elect.

● About half of respondents believe President George W. Bush had the best interests of the military at heart.

● More than 80 percent believe the United States should have invaded Afghanistan, and almost the same number support the plan to boost troops there by more than 20,000.

● Nine percent of respondents said they would not extend their service if gays were allowed to openly serve in the military. Another 14 percent said they would consider not extending service.

(Photo courtesy of Multi-National Force-Iraq)

The public affairs folks at the 81st Brigade Combat Team, the Washington National Guard unit serving at various locations throughout Iraq, have set up a DVIDS page with stories, images and newsletters.

Click here to check it out.

And click below to check out one of my favorite shots so far:

=> Read more!