Now that the war in Iraq is underway, the media are showing their true colors, especially the unsettling delight of competing war rooms and television news frontline reporters. They now seem to crave the saturation coverage, action and drama of war more than criticizing President Bush for waging war. Indeed, there's something troubling -- even frightening -- about that.

Regardless of who's right or wrong, there are disturbing facts that deserve remembering. It was the media who badgered President Clinton into war in Bosnia and Kosovo to depose the ruthless Serbian leader and mass murderer in the Balkans. But it had nothing to do with our national security. Saddam Hussein and his ruthless, mass murdering regime are a threat to our national security. Whether that threat is weapons of mass destruction, invading neighbors, helping terrorists against America and Israel, or destabilizing energy resources, Hussein is (or was) a threat to the United States. The Serbian despot was not.

Even more disturbing is fact that the media somehow demands that whenever America is involved in war, it must be sanitary; free of civilian casualties, collateral damage and without shedding the blood of American soldiers. They demanded it in the Gulf War, Bosnia, Kosovo and Serbia, and they raised the bar for this one. Though the politicians and military have tried to comply, sanitary war is simply an unrealistic media dream.

DDC