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There was a very interesting discussion today in New York about the role of war imagery and how if affects the views of the public. Sponsored by the Independent Film Channel and held at Michael’s restaurant (a favorite media hangout), the forum covered all aspects of the state of the media today. When the discussion turned to public access to war imagery, conservative pundit William Kristol squared off with liberal pundit Pete Hamill. Hamill said the public should have unfiltered access to images of the war in Iraq in order to form a realistic idea about the human costs of the conflict. Kristol said that Americans were capable of understanding what happens in war without seeing “blood and brains.” Hamill held that “there is no sense of whata reality is on the ground by editing out corpses. Kristol said it was a matter of taste. Do you think Americans have seen a fair, realistic depiction of the war? Or have the military and mainstream media censored the truth from us?–David Schonauer