Tar and Feathering Is Too Good For This Joker

Hat tip: WSJ OpinionJournal

Straight from the mind of Washington Post National and Homeland Security commentator William M Arkin:

Note: emphasis is by blogger.

The Troops Also Need to Support the American People

I've been mulling over an NBC Nightly News report from Iraq last Friday in which a number of soldiers expressed frustration with opposition to war in the United States.

I'm sure the soldiers were expressing a majority opinion common amongst the ranks - that's why it is news - and I'm also sure no one in the military leadership or the administration put the soldiers up to expressing their views, nor steered NBC reporter Richard Engel to the story.

I'm all for everyone expressing their opinion, even those who wear the uniform of the United States Army. But I also hope that military commanders took the soldiers aside after the story and explained to them why it wasn't for them to disapprove of the American people.

Friday's NBC Nightly News included a story from my colleague and friend Richard Engel, who was embedded with an active duty Army infantry battalion from Fort Lewis, Washington.

Engel relayed how "troops here say they are increasingly frustrated by American criticism of the war. Many take it personally, believing it is also criticism of what they've been fighting for."

First up was 21 year old junior enlisted man Tyler Johnson, whom Engel said was frustrated about war skepticism and thinks that critics "should come over and see what it's like firsthand before criticizing."

"You may support or say we support the troops, but, so you're not supporting what they do, what they're here sweating for, what we bleed for, what we die for. It just don't make sense to me," Johnson said.

Next up was Staff Sergeant Manuel Sahagun, who is on his second tour in Iraq. He complained that "one thing I don't like is when people back home say they support the troops, but they don't support the war. If they're going to support us, support us all the way."

Next was Specialist Peter Manna: "If they don't think we're doing a good job, everything that we've done here is all in vain," he said.

These soldiers should be grateful that the American public, which by all polls overwhelmingly disapproves of the Iraq war and the President's handling of it, do still offer their support to them, and their respect.

Through every Abu Ghraib and Haditha, through every rape and murder, the American public has indulged those in uniform, accepting that the incidents were the product of bad apples or even of some administration or command order.

Sure, it is the junior enlisted men who go to jail. But even at anti-war protests, the focus is firmly on the White House and the policy. We don't see very many "baby killer" epithets being thrown around these days, no one in uniform is being spit upon.

So, we pay the soldiers a decent wage, take care of their families, provide them with housing and medical care and vast social support systems and ship obscene amenities into the war zone for them, we support them in every possible way, and their attitude is that we should in addition roll over and play dead, defer to the military and the generals and let them fight their war, and give up our rights and responsibilities to speak up because they are above society?

I can imagine some post-9/11 moment, when the American people say enough already with the wars against terrorism and those in the national security establishment feel these same frustrations. In my little parable, those in leadership positions shake their heads that the people don't get it, that they don't understand that the threat from terrorism, while difficult to defeat, demands commitment and sacrifice and is very real because it is so shadowy, that the very survival of the United States is at stake. Those Hoovers and Nixons will use these kids in uniform as their soldiers. If it weren't about the United States, I'd say the story would end with a military coup where those in the know, and those with fire in their bellies, would save the nation from the people.

But it is the United States, and the recent NBC report is just an ugly reminder of the price we pay for a mercenary - oops sorry, volunteer - force that thinks it is doing the dirty work.

The notion of dirty work is that, like laundry, it is something that has to be done but no one else wants to do it. But Iraq is not dirty work: it is not some necessary endeavor; the people just don't believe that anymore.

I'll accept that the soldiers, in order to soldier on, have to believe that they are manning the parapet, and that's where their frustrations come in. I'll accept as well that they are young and naïve and are frustrated with their own lack of progress and the never changing situation in Iraq. Cut off from society and constantly told that everyone supports them, no wonder the debate back home confuses them.

America needs to ponder what it is we really owe those in uniform. I don't believe America needs a draft though I imagine we'd be having a different discussion if we had one.

Comment: When America fought in Vietnam, the country witnessed war in real-time. But the soldiers on the battlefield knew little or nothing of the situation or climate at home. They did not have access to the media we had. So when they got home they were faced with the hostile situation, created by the left, that was totally unexpected, and they were ill-prepared to face.

Today this has flipped flopped. We see some of the war in real-time, but nothing in comparison to Vietnam because we have so many other diversions. We have more television stations so we don’t have to watch the evening news like our parents. Also reporters fear going out on their own to report, so there is little actual footage in comparison to the Vietnam War (reporters rather report from small cubicles inside the Pentagon like Arkin). Besides the MSM doesn’t really care about the ground situation, they’re more concerned about their propaganda effort here.

But the soldiers, unlike their fathers in Vietnam, see the news 24-7 over satellite. They see first-hand the asinine spectacle the MSM displays every evening; they see every news segment that places their heroic efforts in the worst light possible; they see their “soap opera” elected officials turn their backs on them daily; and they jack-asses like John Stewart and Jay Leno malign this great country.

This Arkin is truly a piece of excrement; but what is appalling is that he thinks the same way Charlie Gibson, Katie Curic, Brian Williams, Wolf Blitzer, and 90 percent of the MSM. This is very sad. But the soldiers are right, America is not supporting them and they are buying into the propaganda of the MSM.

America has to wake up before it’s too late. America has to realize that if we leave Iraq, unlike Vietnam, the enemy is coming here. Lastly, America has to realize the MSM is lying to them, aiding the enemy, and assisting the leftist, or as O’Reilly calls them “secular-progressives”, which in my terms means godless socialists.

Wake-up America before it’s too late.