Earlier this year, when Al Jazeera English was considering how to cover Gen. David Petraeus' September report to Congress on the situation in Iraq, bureau chief Stebbins recalled, "Just before his report, we did a story on the Third Infantry out of Georgia. We didn't just focus on what Petraeus was saying. We actually went to the place he was talking about. Josh was embedded and went with them to Iraq to give a firsthand report from the troops on the ground.

"The rest of the world doesn't really have intimate knowledge of how the U.S. functions,'' continued Stebbins. "They see a lot of the President, they see a lot of celebrity scandals and celebrity trials, but what they're really interested in is the interplay between the legislative and executive branches.''