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Military officials say the number of "embedded" U.S. journalists last month was 39, down significantly from the 219 in September 2007, while only four of the 12 full-time U.S. news bureaus operating in Baghdad last year now remain, The Washington Post reported Saturday.

Among those who no longer staff full-time Iraq bureaus are the U.S. television networks CBS and NBC, the newspaper said.

"It remains important and it remains interesting", said Alissa Rubin, The New York Times' acting bureau chief in Baghdad. "But what's in front of us now is almost a static situation. There's not a clear narrative line. The stories are more complex."

As acts of sectarian violence against U.S. troops have dropped, the stories out of Iraq have become more complicated sagas about the intricacies of nation-building, the Post said.

"There are a lot of things going on, a lot of very complicated things going on", said Gen. David Perkins, the top U.S. military spokesman in Iraq. "And to cover that, you really have to understand the details and the sophistication of it."

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