Dear Editor,

With mainstream media outlets airing hours of non-stop war coverage complete with embedded reporters and play-by-play style reporting, it is increasingly clear that Americans are being misled about the true consequences of this war.

Mainstream media coverage of the war relies excessively on highly censored information from embedded reporters and choreographed military press briefings, resulting in a point of view largely defined by high level military officials.

The grim reality of the war as experienced by the Iraqi people and seen by the entire Arab world will have a much greater impact upon the ultimate consequences of this war than any rosy picture that CNN can paint.

As the battle rages into the heavily populated areas of Baghdad, the major news networks have casually reported that the hospitals, which are now understaffed, short of medicine, cut off from electricity and clean water, are handling so many casualties that they have simply stopped counting the crowds of maimed and dying people converging upon them.

Although underreported in the United States, the suffering of the Iraqi people is not going unnoticed by the people living through it and in the rest of the Muslim world. Stations such as Al Jazeera bring a constant stream of searing images of wounded and dying Iraqis to millions of viewers every day.

These images will burn deep into the heart of these people much as the images of the World Trade Center attack is deeply burned into the psyche of our nation. Nor will the millions of Iraqis whose loved ones are being killed and maimed in this conflict be likely to forgive or forget anytime soon.

Thank you,

Ryan Conrad

Glenwood Springs