THE WAR IN IRAQ: Tell the truth about war

Like a number of readers, I was offended by your article titled "U.S. in danger of losing the war". However, I am more offended by the letters accusing us of ignoring the truth. We're not ignoring it, we just expect the media to report the full story rather than cherry-pick the bad news. Every U.S. troop death seems to warrant a blaring headline while the defeat of dozens, even hundreds, of terrorists gets buried in the last paragraphs of a story. Even when good news is reported, the Free Press masks the article with an obscure headline. Why did the announcement of the recent capture of terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's top lieutenant receive the headline "Al Qaeda suspect says he built lethal car bombs"? Why not something more telling like "Top Al Qaeda suspect captured"?

[Letter to the Editor - Detroit Free Press - submitted 01/27/2005]