Ryan Phillippe is urging the American media to put the Iraq War back on the front pages of newspapers and at the top of TV news shows - because the soldiers have become forgotten men and women.

The actor, who plays a Iraq veteran in new movie Stop-Loss, admits the film has reawakened him to the atrocities in the Middle East, where thousands of U.S. troops are fighting a deadly battle.

He says, "It all became a little more personal spending time with the guys and getting to know them and hearing the truth of what it’s like to be there.

"We could see some of the pictures and hear some of the stories and try to go through some of the training but we never came close to knowing what it’s like to be there.

"Five years in and it does seem like the war has made it’s way to the back pages of the newspapers.

"We’ve had some of the bloodiest months with the highest casualties and it’s almost like the war is going on in the background, and the public, to some degree, wants it that way, or wants to ignore it - out of sight out of mind. That bothers me."