[starbase]

Oh, they say they love the troops, but their decision to abandon them in the field speaks otherwise.

This little bit of hyperbole doesn't strengthen the piece IMO. No one, of course, has "decided to leave soldiers in the field" in Iraq. Leaving Iraq means putting all our soldiers on planes back to the US.

Please don't conflate not giving a soldier whatever policy objective they want with actually betraying that soldier.

[Old_Mil]

There are those who argue that murder and dictatorship is the mindset of the Middle East and that will not be changed by our actions. Funny how those who smugly denigrate the Arab peoples' capacity for freedom forget the wholesale slaughter of millions of Westerners by Westerners at the hands of Western dictatorships just a few generations past.

...as does this little bit of irrationality. No one is questioning the capacity of the Arab people for freedom. The problem is that Islam is incompatible with democracy and freedom and has been so since its inception. So is secular facism.

Frankly, I'm tired of supposed conservatives going on witch hunts charging people with racism and using ethnic terms to define this conflict when it is a philosophical and theological one.

[kristinn]

"Oh, they say they love the troops, but their decision to abandon them in the field speaks otherwise."

Starbase:This little bit of hyperbole doesn't strengthen the piece IMO. No one, of course, has "decided to leave soldiers in the field" in Iraq. Leaving Iraq means putting all our soldiers on planes back to the US.

Please don't conflate not giving a soldier whatever policy objective they want with actually betraying that soldier.

The calls by politicians and others to pull our troops out now or in four months is tantamount to abandoning them in the field. The enemy is given a greenlight to keep fighting while our soldiers start to wonder if it's worth it to keep fighting.