Deep into a four-hour congressional hearing centered on why the active Army and its reserve components are falling short of recruiting goals, Rep. Vic Snyder, D-Ark., turned a spotlight on the elephant in the room.

The war in Iraq, Snyder said, is unpopular with many Americans, a fact that needs airing given the all-volunteer nature of the U.S. military.

Until that moment, in the July 19 House armed services subcommittee hearing, blame for recruiting shortfalls had focused on negative news coverage of the war, an improving economy, the pace of military operations and an unexplained drop in the propensity of parents and other "influencers" of American youth to recommend military service.

Nothing was said of a nation that, polls show, is souring on a war that was launched to destroy Iraqi weapons of mass destruction and shifted, after none was found, into an open-ended occupation and a Herculean effort to turn a fractionalized Muslim nation into a democracy.

Snyder, senior Democrat on the panel, finally raised what other lawmakers, two senior defense officials and 10 star-rank officers had ignored in their own remarks, perhaps in deference to the president or to protect troop morale.

"I don't think I agree with the view that somehow all we have to do is change the news reporting that comes from Iraq and Afghanistan and that's going to take care of our problems," Snyder said. "First of all, there ain't no one in this room going to change the news reporting. These folks are professional journalists. They're reporting what they think is the news.

"But there's a deeper issue," Snyder continued.

An advantage of civilian control of the military, he said, is that the commander in chief and the Congress, not the military, is responsible if force is used in ways not supported by a large segment of society.

"We need to step forward and recognize that even in this time of disagreement over where our foreign policy is going, it helps all of us to have the military be as strong as it can be," Snyder said.

Earlier in the hearing, panel chairman Rep. John McHugh, R-N.Y., asked the service personnel chiefs to explain why, through June of this year, the active Army brought in only 86 percent of the recruits it needed, the Army National Guard only 77 percent and the Army Reserve 79 percent.

Dr. David C. S. Chu, undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, cited a growing reluctance among "older advisers" to American youth to encourage military service. He also pointed to a strong economy; the strain of current operations and a slow response by his department and the Army to a worsening recruiting climate, in using recruit bonuses and more recruiters.

The Army's personnel chief, Lt. Gen. Franklin L. Hagenbeck, pointed to a strong job market and noted that Iraq and Afghanistan had negatively impacted youth and influencers. He also hit "skewed" news coverage that doesn't match the perspective of returning soldiers who say "it's not the same war, in the same place, that I just spent 12 months in."