In a March 16 “Speakout” guest column in the Rocky Mountain News, Paul Sherbo -- identified as a retired Navy Reserve captain who has served in Iraq -- claimed that NBC Nightly News reported “last month” that “the majority of troops in Iraq support the campaign and are frustrated with the degree of opposition back home.” However, a Colorado Media Matters review of NBC Nightly News broadcasts in January, February, and March* revealed no reporting on the overall sentiment of U.S. troops in Iraq, although troops interviewed for three broadcasts offered mixed responses about their own feelings about the war and their reactions to reports of domestic criticism of the conflict.

In his column, Sherbo referred to testimony offered on March 14 for and against a Colorado Senate resolution opposing President Bush's Iraq troop increase:

For many, it was just great TV at the time. But things have not gone so well. Now, it seems, things are rapidly snowballing to the point at which the country will now run away screaming in despair.

Both actions show the unfortunate shallowness that we Americans can sometimes display. “Let's get 'em!” Followed by: “Geez, it's 9 p.m. and it's not over yet?”

Some of this screaming happened, at varying volume, in the Statehouse Wednesday (“Loud and divided on Iraq,” March 15). More will happen before it's all over. What touched off Wednesday's exchange is a proposed resolution opposing the “surge.” In itself, the surge is a tactic that people with opposing views on the war can either agree or disagree with. But the resolution has come to symbolize a lot more than that. It has inflamed anyone with strong views on the war into speaking out. A lot of political baggage went along with Wednesday's debate, as the committee's party-line vote showed.

Most interesting to me, however, are the comments of the veterans.

• Don Ottaway, 22-year-old Iraq veteran and Cherry Creek High School graduate, noted the “sweat and tears” he suffered there. Nevertheless he supported the war, saying, “Freedom is not free.”

• Diggs Brown, Afghan vet and Green Beret from Fort Collins, said he was “outraged that I have to be here today speaking to you. This vote is an insult to the members of our armed forces.”

To this I add, according to a report last month on NBC Nightly News, the majority of troops in Iraq support the campaign and are frustrated with the degree of opposition back home.

Contrary to Sherbo's assertion, NBC Nightly News did not report on “the majority of troops in Iraq” in any of the broadcasts in question. Sherbo might have been referring to a March 5 NBC Nightly News broadcast in which reporter Richard Engel and retired Army Gen. Wayne Downing visited Iraq and spoke with troops serving there. The broadcast aired Downing recounting to NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams the sentiments of the soldiers he had encountered that day:

DOWNING: I -- every soldier that I ran across today, I asked them, 'How do you feel about what's going on? What do you know about what's going on back in the States?' And without exception, I mean, and this was spontaneous, especially when you start talking to PFCs and spec force, they're going to tell you the truth, no party line. Very proud of what they're doing, very, very dedicated. Many of these guys, Brian, are back here on their second and third tour.

Similarly, during a January 26 broadcast, Engel reported, “Troops here say they are increasingly frustrated by American criticism of the war. Many take it personally, believing it is also criticism of what they've been fighting for.” The broadcast then aired Engel's interviews with three soldiers in the Stryker Brigade's Apache Company who spoke of their frustration with domestic criticism of the war.

In contrast, on a February 9 broadcast, Engel stated of the soldiers with whom he spoke as a reporter embedded with the U.S. First Infantry Division that "[t]hey all told me it's time to end this war. And, Brian, the soldiers also asked why it seems from here there are no plans to end the war, just discussions of battle tactics."

In none of the January, February, or March broadcasts reviewed did NBC Nightly News purport to relate the sentiments of “the majority of troops in Iraq,” either regarding their support for the U.S. mission or their reactions to anti-war sentiment in the United States.

* Nexis search from January 26 through March 16 with the terms “NBC Nightly News” and “Iraq” and “troop! or soldier!”