92                                     U.S. MARINES IN THE PERSIAN GULF, 19901991

Boomer: We went into the attack wearing chemical suits, and the four-day
operation was about three-fourths over before I began to think that the Iraqis had
probably missed their chance to cause heavy casualties to our side, and started
to relax a little.

Proceedings: In light of the controversy over "managed news," you scored a
coup by taking some journalists into the attack with your mobile command post.
Overall, how did you think the war was covered?

Boomer: Taking the media with me was a spur-of-the-moment thought. I knew
where my command post was going, and I thought to myself, "What a hell of
a view someone is going to get of this war!"   The less-experienced reporters
want to cover a war from the rifle-company level--and there's a need for some
of that.  But the best way to get a picture of what's happening is to go with a
senior command element that is operating far forward.    Then you can get the
sights and sounds along with a clearer idea of what is happening throughout the
battlefield. I had no qualms about letting the media come along, and they could
report on anything they saw.
    Overall, I think we got a good shake with the media. We tried to treat them
as fairly as we could and, generally speaking, they covered the Marines quite
fairly.   We had no problem with allowing reporters to talk to individual
Marines.   We thought that would result in good stories, because we have bright
young people who express themselves well.      There's always a chance that
someone will get on camera and say something silly, but that's not confined to
junior Marines and we regarded that as an acceptable risk.  I think subsequent
events proved us right on that.


                                                                    IRAN

        N     IRAQ

              USARCENT 44 JFCN                              BUBIVAN~ :---: -.
                     44
                                       KUWAIT


                                       JFCN  MARCENT


     SAUDI ARABIA
                             EGYPT        �((A~ir,B            --  -      -

                             L]        2[~~�M(
     Allied Force Deployment, SYRIA    USMC          ARCENT~JFCE           :- -
        24 February 1991                       ____________


                                          USMC