Despite outcry from veterans and supporters of the military over the cover of Time’s April 21 issue, a spokesman for the magazine insists editors did nothing wrong.

The Business & Media Institute (BMI) posted a story on April 17 about Iwo Jima veterans outraged by Time’s decision to alter the iconic image of Marines raising an American flag at Iwo Jima and replace the flag with a tree. The altered image was used to illustrate a new war on global warming.

“TIME has the utmost respect for our nation's veterans and we well understand the power of the iconic image of the raising of the flag over Iwo Jima,” Daniel Kile, associate director of public relations at Time, said in an e-mail to BMI. “We believe this is a respectful use of this symbol of American valor and courage and serves to highlight another great challenge facing our nation.”

However, other Iwo Jima veterans that have stepped forward see it differently. Included below is some of the feedback the Business & Media Institute has received from hundreds of upset veterans in wake of the Time cover:

The controversy comes at time when a lot of the print media is losing market share to other outlets. Time magazine, a part of Time Warner (NYSE:TWX) has had a hard time with their circulation. According to a New York Times story last August, Time has seen a major loss in circulation.

“The biggest exception was Time magazine, whose circulation dropped sharply, to 3.4 million from 4.1 million, a 17 percent decline that resulted mostly from a planned retrenchment announced last year,” Richard Perez-Pena wrote for the Aug. 14, 2007 Times.