CBS ANCHOR DAN RATHER TO RETURN TO IRAQ TO REPORT ON THE FIRST IRAQI NATIONAL ELECTIONS SINCE THE TOPPLING OF SADDAM HUSSEIN

Rather Will Report for the CBS Evening News And "60 Minutes Wednesday"

CBS News anchor Dan Rather leaves for Baghdad immediately following the Presidential Inauguration on Thursday to report on the preparations for the national Iraqi elections to be held on Sunday, January 30th.

Rather's reports will appear on 60 MINUTES Wednesday and on the CBS EVENING NEWS. He will co-anchor the CBS EVENING NEWS weekend editions from Iraq, as well as co-anchor the CBS EVENING NEWS on Monday, January 31st. Rather is expected to return to the New York anchor desk Tuesday, February 1st. vJoining Rather for this critical story will be CBS News correspondents Kimberly Dozier, David Hawkins and Lara Logan, who will report on Iraq's first nationwide election since the toppling of Saddam Hussein.

Registered voters are expected to choose 275 members of a national assembly, whose main task will be to debate and approve a new constitution. There will also be elections to 18 provincial assemblies and to the autonomous Kurdish parliament in the north.

While in Iraq, Dan will go on patrol with the 24th MEU (Marine Expeditionary Unit) in the "Triangle of Death," about 30 miles south of Baghdad. The Marines will show Rather how they are preparing for the election in an area known for sheltering a large number of insurgents.

This trip marks more than a dozen to the Middle Eastern country by Rather, including several since the March 2003 invasion. The CBS News anchor made headlines during the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990 with the first, exclusive interview with then Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. Rather's reporting made headlines again in 2003 just before the U.S. led invasion of Iraq when he landed another exclusive news-making interview with Hussein.