THe American public saw horrific images from WW II, Korea, Vietnam...and rightly so IMO. It has nothing to do with supporting the troops and everything to do with reporting on the ugliness of war at a very personal level.
I would suggest that the outrage be directed at the Pentagon...not the media.
Quote:
An audit by the Pentagon’s Inspector General released to Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY) shows that U.S. soldiers have had to go without the necessary weapons, armor, vehicles, and equipment in Iraq and Afghanistan:
The Inspector General found that the Pentagon hasn’t been able to properly equip the soldiers it already has. Many have gone without enough guns, ammunition, and other necessary supplies to “effectively complete their missions” and have had to cancel or postpone some assignments while waiting for the proper gear, according to the report from auditors with the Defense Dept. Inspector General’s office. Soldiers have also found themselves short on body armor, armored vehicles, and communications equipment, among other things, auditors found.
“As a result, service members performed missions without the proper equipment, used informal procedures to obtain equipment and sustainment support, and canceled or postponed missions while waiting to receive equipment,” reads the executive summary dated Jan. 25. Service members often borrowed or traded with each other to get the needed supplies, according to the summary.
Summary of DoD Inspector GenerAl Equipment audit (pdf)
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I guess it goes back to Rumsfeld's cavalier response to a soldier (nearly 3 years ago) asking about body armour being told "you go to war with what you have".
And the 21,000 new troops that Bush is sending...what will they have?