During the last decade's Iraq war, the Pentagon practised “embedding” media personnel with United States armed forces in order to give the American public something approaching a frontline picture of their efforts. The great majority of the journalists involved came to identify with the troops they were living with, and in the main the Pentagon’s media managers were pleased with the result. After all, if a reporter filed what the Pentagon considered to be an unflattering view, then it would take steps not to repeat that particular “embedding” experience, perhaps making it near impossible for the professional concerned to work in the field without official access.
A few journalists were independent from the start, Patrick Cockburn being a noted example. Their reports often turned out to have given a much truer picture of the war, and how it was going wrong. In other cases, good reporting by embedded correspondents produced results that seemed reasonable to the Pentagon, but which in hindsight took on a different cast. One example was when Pamela Constable, a highly experienced correspondent for the Washington Post, reported on a US marines' operation in the city of Fallujah in April 2004.
A convoy taking supplies to a forward base in the city was ambushed and came under severe assault, only getting out when a powerful force of marines moved in and fought for hours against the attackers. There were injuries but no deaths among the marines, but the level of opposition was a huge shock, The commander subsequently called in AC-130 gunships that devastated several blocks of the city in what Constable reported was a reprisal raid.
