Michael Fumento

According to an article in today's Washington Times, "One retired officer attendee [at a closed-door conference last spring at Fort Carson, Colo.] made notes and e-mailed his minutes of the session to other officers. The notes say there was general agreement on one issue: the 'mainstream media'largely ignore progress. A commander said an embedded reporter filed a generally positive story on the operation in Tal Afar, only to see his stateside editors gut it and apply a negative spin."

"We are clearly winning the fight against the insurgents, but we are losing the public relations battle, both in the war zone and in the States," said the e-mail.