News reporting on the war consists almost entirely of itemizing casualties. Headlines say: "Two Marines killed by roadside bomb." Rarely do the accompanying stories--let alone the headlines that are all that most people read--explain where the Marines were going, or why; what strategic objective they and their comrades were pursuing, and how successful they were in achieving it; or how many terrorists were also killed.
Yup. I remember old Walter well. Even back then, I couldn't stand him--something about him just "didn't ring true", despite the almost universal fawning admiration he garnered. The "gut feeling" was similar to what I experienced when I first saw/heard Bill Clinton.