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Sorry about that, but your headline breaks the first rule of good reporting. It is not backed up fact in the story. [...] It may be your opinion that CBS is "praying for blood" but please, with all respect, don't state that as a fact unless the story backs it up, and this one does not.

Oh, come on MB! You've been here long enough to know what vanity statements in parentheses after headlines ARE opinions, and that they are standard on FR. And there is hardly anyone on FR so stupid as to believe that either a) CBS literally allowed onto its web site any phrase like "We Want Blood!" or b) that I was at all accusing them of having done so. They know it was an opinion on my part and nothing more, and they were and are free to read the CBS story and make their own judgement.

Second, I backed up my opinion at the bottom of the story. I stand by it. In addition: As I type this, the top story on CBSNews.com, and all FR is talking about, is the (alleged) terrorist grenade attack on the 101st Airborne camp. CBS News has NOT send out a breaking news email about that, yet they did for this. I consider that unethical, and the result of an obvious lust for hard battle in the newsroom. You're welcome to disagree, but it's a perfectly legitimate argument.

Secondly, where is the "America-hate" pull quote?

There's only one pull quote. It is overtly anti-American. It's in the left column between the first two photos. (I don't blame you for missing it; it's horrid design work on CBS's part.)

Trust me, two tours in RVN doing LRRPs and covering a few wars as a reporter, I have learned it's never easy. Some of this armchair bravado posting stuff (not yours) is BS, and almost an insult to the grunts on the line who are being shot as we write. We will win, but underestiating the enemy is fatal.

I've never been a soldier, but I'm ex-AP, ABC and CNN. And I don't disagree with you for a moment the the hardest is likely yet to come for the soldiers. But the way CBS basically advertised this just reeks of, at best, third-grade level taunting of American troops after just having all their prior armchair newsroom "analysis" about mass American casualties, millions of Iraqi dead, thousands of oil well fires, etc etc, all proven to be absolute cow dung: "Oh, sure, you walked over the regular Iraqi army, but what about when you reach the Republican Guards? They're gonna RALLY beat you up, nyah!" And at worst, yes, it reeks of them just wanting blood to they can have something "cooler" to report.