Other Columns by Thomas D. Segel
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The majority of Americans charge the Bush Administration is not prosecuting the war effectively. The mainstream media, however, use this polling information to advance anti-Bush, anti-war positions.

When generalized polls are reported as hard news, when bombs and body counts lead radio and television news shows, when a small band of war protesters are presented as "growing" sentiment against the conflict in Iraq, the poisoning of American resolve must be the intended outcome.

There is little doubt our "main stream" media is out of sync with objective reporting. This dates back dozens of years to the infiltration of journalism schools by left-of-center professors and has been exacerbated nationally by the teachings of higher education faculties dominated by those proclaiming a liberal philosophy.

Today their former students have become a small army of reporters, writers, editors and journalism staff members who are the dominant personnel in major newspapers, news magazines and electronic media across the United States. They are the people who attempt to control the news for the entire country.

But, this is not the United States or the world of thirty years ago. With the Internet, online publications, Blogs, conservative talk radio and the gaining prominence of the Fox News Channel, Americans are hearing the sounds of different drummers.

War protesters are quick to say they are still patriotic and still support our troops, even though they are against the war. That doesn't wash very well with most veterans, retired military personnel or the men and women in uniform.

Ed Evans is a retired Marine Master Gunnery Sergeant who makes his home in Nashville, Tennessee. With some choice adjectives, he reflects that everyone has an opinion on the war, but further argues, "Our military operations are not subject to democratic selection. We need to get out of the administration's way and let them prosecute our national defense, here and overseas."

Evans adds, "Every attack on our own government administration is played up by the foreign media, builds the enemy's morale, and undercuts the administration's ability to operate."

Lieutenant Colonel Tim Ryan, then commanding a unit of the First Calvary Division in Iraq wrote a scathing commentary on the media. He says print and video journalists are covering only a small fraction of events in Iraq and more often than not, the events they cover are the bad ones. "Many of the journalists making public assessments about the progress of the war in Iraq are unqualified to do so, given their training and experience. The inaccurate picture they paint has distorted the worldview of the daily realities in Iraq. The result is a further erosion of international support for the United States' efforts there and a strengthening of the insurgent's resolve and recruiting efforts, while weakening our own. Through their incomplete, uninformed and unbalanced reporting, many members of the media covering the war in Iraq are aiding and abetting the enemy."

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