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nearly as observant as a “professional journalist.” I didn’t learn journalism at the Naval Academy. But I did learn to recognize courage, competence, commitment, and compassion—all qualities that these youngsters have in abundance.
    I did not expect the ire of the fourth estate for what their colleagues had said—that these young American men and women of the Armed Forces really are remarkable troops. But that’s exactly what happened. Apparently, I and some others who were embedded “lived with the troops too long, got too close to them.” We lost “objectivity,” and became “flag-waving advocates,” as was reported in one weekly newsmagazine.
    Time magazine’s James Poniewozik, among others, scolded us for covering the war from the American perspective, branding us as “biased” for the way we reported the swift victory over the vaunted Republican Guard troops and Saddam’s fedayeen. Harper’s Magazine publisher John MacArthur, citing the way embedded reporters covered Marine Cpl. Edward Chin scaling the statue of Saddam and momentarily draping the huge black metal sculpture with Old Glory, accused not only the embedded media, but also the U.S. military, of being “propagandistic” for “the Bush reelection campaign.”
    The reality is considerably different. Most of us who were embedded with the troops simply allowed the young Americans doing the fighting to tell their story. They said how proud they were to help liberate a repressed people. They spoke openly about being honored to be in the service of their country. And they showed modesty andrestraint in talking about their own courage and military prowess. We didn’t make this stuff up. The troops said it in their own words.
    These words from our troops may have shocked and surprised the editors of the New York Times , the Washington Post, Harper’s , and Time . Just because a young American goes live on FOX News Channel and tells America that he believes his country is doing something right doesn’t mean those of us who held the microphones and cameras have lost our objectivity. The media elites may not like hearing young Americans raised on a steady diet of political correctness, inane sitcoms, and video games talk about virtue, values, and valor—but that’s the way they are. That’s reality television.
    Here is an eyewitness account of the war in Iraq, not as the negative mainstream media and defamatory politicians would like you to see it, but as it actually happened, and often from the perspective of those who should know, because they were there—the men and women of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force and the U.S. Army’s 4th Infantry Division.

CHAPTER ONE
    THE ROAD TO HELL
    Â Â Â  OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM SIT REP #1
    Â Â Â Â Â Â  Kuwait International Airport, Kuwait
    Â Â Â Â Â Â  Thursday, 6 March 2003
    Â Â Â Â Â Â  2330 Hours Local
    â€œA re you here as a member of the Armed Forces or as a member of the media?” asks the neatly uniformed but unsmiling Kuwaiti immigration official.
    â€œI’m here to cover the war for FOX News Channel,” I reply. “Does it matter?”
    â€œOh yes,” he says, trying to be both firm and polite at the same time. “If you are here with the media, you are limited to a sixty-day stay and you must be escorted by the Ministry of Information. If you are here with the American military, there is no time limit and your visa will be stamped by the Ministry of Defense.”
    â€œWell, this time it’s the media,” I respond, hoping that my honesty won’t precipitate an inordinate delay in passing through the immigration and customs bureaucracy.
    It’s my first mistake on this trip and entitles me to a two-hour wait for an absent civil servant from the Ministry of Information.
    I had been through this same airport in November 2001,