Liberal William M. Arkin has a piece in the Washington (com)Post today that sums up very well how the anti-war Left truly feel about our brave soldiers. Not only is it our duty to withhold support of the troops, but it’s the troops’ duty to support us in not supporting them.

It’s truly a disgusting piece of incoherent drivel that must’ve been the result of a late night binge on crack cocaine and paint fumes.

And I thought I’d take a moment to respond to this MSM article that appears to be a ripoff of the leftwing nutroots movement…

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 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.

So if I have this straight, our brave men and women serving in harm’s way, sleeping on desert floors and humping 50 pound rucksacks in 110 degree weather, risking life and limb, to battle an enemy that would like to behead each and everyone of us (including you, Mr. Arkin), should show more “support” for us?

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.
…
We just don’t see very man “baby killer” epithets being thrown around these days, no one in uniform is being spit upon.

Are you sure about that?

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

“Obscene amenities”? Would that be the ever-luxurious meals they dine on? Or perhaps it’s the excessively comfortable bedding they’re provided:

Obscene, ain’t it?

we support them in every possible way

Does “every possible way” mean calling them dumb and lazy, or deadbeats who can’t find a career, or terrorists?

Don’t worry, Mr. Arkin, we know what you mean when you say you support the troops in “every” possible way:

Or maybe we’ve just misunderstood which troops you’re “supporting 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?

So you’ve given up your right to speak up… right there on the editorial page of the Washington Post. Oh how can we ever retrieve those lost rights?

But it is the United States and instead this 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.

I suppose calling the brave men and women of our armed forces “mercenaries” is also part of that “supporting our troops in every possible way” strategy?

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.

Don’t forget “dumb and lazy“.

Cut off from society and constantly told that everyone supports them, no wonder the debate back home confuses them.

I think that last line actually sums up just how asinine this whole article is. The troops are being told they’re supported, yet they keep seeing crap like this in the MSM. Mr. Arkin, you’re not part of the solution… you’re part of the problem…

UPDATE:
Arkin responds from his ivory tower.

1. Arkin is an ass. He may have a chip on his shoulder as a result of being tossed out of the Army in 1978. (That is conjecture on my part - I have no evidence to substantiate it as fact.) However, anyone who writes about the military the way he does obviously did not have a pleasant experience. The Army definitely benefited by his separation whether it was voluntary or forced.

   Perhaps he would like to put the uniform back on and walk the streets of Baghdad to earn a “decent wage.” His writing comes off like that of a snot-nosed brat. Freud would probably diagnose him as having gonad envy – because he doesn’t have the balls to do what those “mercenary” kids do every day in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Wa(com)Po should throw him out with the rest of the office trash!

   Comment by Old Soldier — 10:57 am
   

2. […] UPDATE: Oh, man. If Arkin thought he'd gotten bashed around before, this one just poured a tanker full of gasoline on the fire. Others, already: Simply Kimberly, Blackfive, Sister Toldjah, Andrew Olmsted, AJ Strata, PJM, How Deserted Lies The City,  Java Zen, Candy Slice of Life, Rick Moran, LGF, A Jacksonian, Villainous Company, bRight and Early, CDR Salamander, QandO, Zen Pundit, Brandodojo, Confederate Yankee, Jules Crittenden, Pink Flamingo Bar, Urban Grounds, Transterrestrial Musings, Leaning Straight Up, Don Surber, Redstate, Mac's Mind, GTL, Wake Up America, Ray Robison, Jammie Wearing Fool, 7.62mm Justice, Texas Rainmaker, […]

   Pingback by Blue Crab Boulevard » On Arrogance And Intolerance — 3:35 pm
   

3. I get this same load of crap from my Consciencios Objecter older brother. His brain atrophied in ‘69.

   These nitwits can’t seem to get it through their heads that the barbarians really are at the gate and that none of them knows the words to “Kumbaya”.

   Comment by USBeast — 6:22 pm
   

4. I get this same load of crap from my Consciencios Objecter older brother. His brain atrophied in ‘69.

   These nitwits can’t seem to get it through their heads that the barbarians really are at the gate and that none of them know the words to “Kumbaya”.

   Comment by USBeast — 6:23 pm
   

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