Here’s the video, courtesy Stop the ACLU:

Now, let me cleverly turn Schieffer’s argument back on him and agree with him: We do need to hear more about Iraq, but not just about the dead US troops. Specifically the media needs to report that things are improving, that US combat deaths are down and that Iraqis from al Anbar to Adamiyah have turned on al Qaeda and driven them out of their lairs. The media needs to report on the schools that our troops have rebuilt, the towns our troops have put back together and the Iraqis who are returning to their homes. We need to hear about al Qaeda’s slaughterhouses in Fallujah and the village that al Qaeda wiped out. We need to hear about our enemy’s atrocious conduct and contrast that with the overwhelmingly professional conduct of our own troops. We need to hear about the enemy’s plans for Iraq in contrast to the freedom that our troops are fighting to establish for Iraq. We need to hear less about Abu Ghraib and Gitmo and more about how the lives of average Iraqis, and Afghanis for that matter, have improved since the US drove out the Taliban and kicked over Saddam’s regime. When we do hear about the negative stories and when the media does report on Gitmo and Abu Ghraib, they need to put those stories into some proper factual and historical context instead of just sensationalizing everything in ways that smear our country and our military. Anytime the media reports on the claims of captured terrorists, it needs to fill in with a paragraph or two about the fact that terrorists are trained to manufacture claims of abuse to manipulate the press and public opinion. That’s all factual, and ought to be reported.

Bob Schieffer wants to hear more about Iraq? Fine. But if he just reports US combat deaths and stops there, he’s omitting the broader picture that’s available and therefore distorting the reality of the war. He’s omitting reporting on what the troops are fighting and dying for. That’s what the media has been doing almost from the beginning, and it’s past time they stop.

You’re a major media maven, Bob. Make it happen.