SHOW: FOX HANNITY & COLMES 9:13 PM EST February 17, 2006 Friday

HEADLINE: Interview With Bob Stephenson

BYLINE: Sean Hannity, Alan Colmes

GUESTS: Bob Stephenson


COLMES: Welcome back to "Hannity & Colmes."

And television station KSTP in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota refusing to air an advertisement that defends the war on terror and U.S. policy in Iraq and criticizes media coverage. Let's take a look at part of that ad.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. COL. BOB STEPHENSON, MN. FAMILIES UNITED: You'd never know it from the news reports, but our enemy in Iraq is Al Qaeda, the same terrorists who killed 3,000 Americans on 9/11, the same terrorists from the first World Trade Center bombing, the USS Cole, Madrid, London and many more.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLMES: Well, the station's general manager issued us a statement that read in part, quote, "We rejected the ad because it's not true about our station.
When someone watches our news, we are their media. We don't see a reason to let someone take an unfair shot at us. We asked them to change two lines in the ad, and they refused to do so."

Joining us now, one of the Iraq war veterans who appears in the ad, a representative of Minnesota Families United for our Troops and their Families, Lieutenant Colonel Bob Stephenson.

Bob, thanks for being with us. Thanks for serving, as well.

And let me ask you, though, the objection is not to the content, in terms of policy, or the war, or the Bush administration; the objection is because they take a shot at the media, and they don't want their viewers to think that they are not doing their jobs.

Isn't that fair?

LT. COL. BOB STEPHENSON, MN. FAMILIES UNITED: Well, it may be fair. And I understand the premise of why they're doing that. I'll have to admit that I disagree with it.

I agree wholeheartedly with the words that I speak in the ad, and I think it's a good message that needs to be told. And that being said, I'm disappointed that they're choosing not to run it, although I understand, you know, in a free country, in a free market that they're able to do that.

COLMES: But they're not doing it because they object -- it's not a political statement about Bush policy, or the war itself, or supporting the troops.
And I don't think we should let people give that -- give people that idea.

They don't like two lines. One is, "The media won't tell you good news," and the other is, "The media misled you." And they, as a media outlet, that is the media outlet for the people in their community, don't want to convey that message to their viewers. They don't want to hurt their image.

Isn't that a logical point of view?

STEPHENSON: For some. Like I said, I disagree with their choice, but it is their choice that they've made. And so we'll live with it.

The other major stations in town have decided to go with it and seem to be doing OK with it, but again I feel it's a good message and I'm glad it's being told to some degree.

COLMES: One of the moments in this ad is smoke pouring from the World Trade Center, and they're talking about how important it is to be fighting in Iraq, once again linking -- and there's that image from the ad -- once again linking Iraq to 9/11, something which has pretty much been dispelled.

So one might take issue with the veracity of that part of the ad, as well.

STEPHENSON: Well, the ad doesn't state that -- well, let me say what the ad does state. In the ad, I state that we are fighting Al Qaeda in Iraq right now. And that's a fact. Al Qaeda has a branch office there. And if they don't, somebody might want to tell Mr. al-Zarqawi that.

But the fact is we are fighting Al Qaeda in Iraq now, and what the ad does not say -- it does not say that we went into Iraq after Al Qaeda. And it also doesn't say, for example, that Saddam Hussein was responsible for 9/11.

The fact is that the global war on terror is a many-faceted and a challenging environment. But again, the ad holds true that we are, in fact, fighting Al Qaeda in Iraq now.

HANNITY: Hey, Colonel, it's Sean Hannity. Thanks for being with us.

By the way, first of all, in the interest of full disclosure, at least on a temporary basis, I'm on their sister radio station there, just to be fair.

First of all, you volunteered to go fight Iraq in the war on terror. You did this voluntarily. You knew what you were signing up for, correct?

STEPHENSON: Correct, Sean. I was in a fairly cushy reserve job back here in Minnesota. And I quit that so that I could get over and participate in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

HANNITY: I am just trying to understand why any TV station wouldn't allow you the freedom at least to express your view, considering that's the one thing you went over and volunteered to fight for, and you went out of your way to fight for it.

But, you know, we don't believe the statement was accurate. I'm trying to understand -- I still don't understand from their statement what part they don't think is accurate in all of this, considering you're just expressing your view in an ad. What's the problem?

STEPHENSON: Well, I agree with you, Sean. Like we had mentioned before, it's a good message I think that should be heard. You know, the ad itself was a platform for us with our organization, which is Minnesota Families United, to get our message out.

And so I agree wholeheartedly. It's a story that should be told. It's an ad that was -- you know, they were going to pay for it, of course. And I'm a little mystified, as well.

COLMES: Well, you know, occasionally sometimes the media will actually turn down money if they think that something is being misrepresented. But I don't think it was your words that they thought were misrepresented.

Thank you very much, Colonel, for being with us tonight. And appreciate you being here.