Chopper Whopper: Hole Deepens For Brian Williams

NBC News anchor Brian Williams's problems got worse Thursday, even though in a CNN interview, Rich Krell, a pilot of the Chinook helicopter that carried Williams and a crew in Iraq in 2003, said that it did indeed sustain small-arms fire, but wasn't hit by RPGs. Krell said that Williams would have been aware the aircraft was hit.

Talk Radio News Service reports, Christopher Simeone and Allan Kelly, also pilots of Williams's helicopter, strongly disputed Krell's account. Joe Summerlin, a soldier who was on the helicopter that was forced down by enemy fire, said Williams's helicopter was part of a different mission and at least 30 minutes behind theirs. His account is supported by Simeone and Kelly.

Stars and Stripes newspapers reported Thursday that Williams's helicopter took no fire and landed later beside the damaged helicopter due to an impending sandstorm from the Iraqi desert, according to Sgt 1st Class Joseph Miller, who was the flight engineer on the aircraft that carried the journalists.

For now, NBC News appears to be standing behind him. He renewed his contract in Dec, apparently for $10 million a year for five years

Veteran war correspondents have reacted with considerable anger to the story, saying that it tarnishes their reputations, which they work very hard with the troops to establish. However, former CBS anchor Dan Rather, who left the network under a cloud after an inaccurate report, came to Williams's defense Thursday. Can Williams survive this?