Money quote:
There is something backward here. Congressional opponents of the Iraq war are "supporting the troops" in the best possible way: by trying to bring them home to safety and their families. It is those — those few, apart from President Bush — who want to send even more troops to Iraq who should feel defensive about their support for the troops. Some of those troops are on their third tour of duty in Iraq, and few of them are pleased to be there. Maybe, as Bush and his advisers no doubt sincerely believe, the drip drip drip of young American blood is worth it. Maybe the critics underestimate the peril of pulling out. Maybe the "surge" will turn out to be a huge success and vindicate Bush's strategy. But please — let's not pretend that staying the course is a favor to the troops.
and again:
How can you make this point — which is surely a legitimate one in a democracy, whether you agree with it or not — if any form of words that might undermine the morale of American soldiers is not allowed because it fails to "support the troops"? Even Bush's defenders in Congress do not, presumably, support in advance any conceivable use of American military power. Many of them, for example, who were in Congress at the time, opposed President Clinton's initiatives in the Balkans. Maybe there were those who bit their tongues, in order to "support the troops." But many spoke out, and bitterly. As they should have: to keep quiet as American soldiers died in what these politicians saw as a misuse of American power and American blood would have been a strange way to show support.
That wasn't too hard, was it? Somebody tell the Democrats to stop apologizing for exercising a right that exists as the basis of our democracy.
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