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Does our nation lower the flag to half-staff every time one of our own is killed in battle? Of course not. It's not that we don't mourn our dead, but it would not be proper for any but family and friends to stop and mourn for them until the war is won.

Armistice Day or Remembrance Day took place the day the war ended, and not before.

After giving the matter considerable thought, I did not lower my flag to half-staff after 9/11 despite directions from Washington to do so. My reason was that it appeared to me that we were at war, and that during a time of war you don't ordinarily lower the flag. Lowering the flag might be taken as a sign of weakness. I mourn the dead every time I pass by Ground Zero, but I don't lower my flag; I keep it flying.

It's perfectly obvious that Koppel's purpose in doing this is not only to gain notoriety and ratings, but to demoralize his audience and encourage them to call on our government to quit the war effort. That's why he is rightly an object of contempt. If he is not a traitor, he is a moral coward.