At last, a high-ranking member of Britain's military has suggested that the approach taken by the British media to the Iraq crisis may have cost the lives of British troops. As the Independent reports:

'The UK's senior military officer blamed the media yesterday for making it easier for insurgents to attack British troops in Iraq. The chief of defence staff, General Sir Michael Walker, said attacks on the Black Watch may have been prompted by media coverage of their deployment to central Iraq. Five members were killed during the month-long mission to Camp Dogwood, near Baghdad. General Walker told BBC2's Newsnight last night: "I think the contribution towards the initial attacks was certainly enhanced by, if you like, a media picture that was being laid across a number of channels." '

The deployment of the Black Watch provoked general hysteria in the British media, which not only announced that the regiment would be going into the 'triangle of Death' around Baghdad but said it would not be able to defend itself against the jihadi onslaught there. It was altogether an open invitation to these enemies to attack -- not least because it was clear that the heavier the losses these soldiers would sustain, the more the British media would blame not those who had attacked them but Tony Blair for putting British soldiers in harm's way in the first place. Thus a routine deployment in time of war was inflated into an anti-war propaganda campaign. The effects of such coverage are potentially disastrous in time of war. Sir Michael's brief remarks deserve to be amplified into a fully fledged critique by the British military of the part played by the media in fighting against their own side over Iraq .