What the Heck was I Thinking!?

QandO posted about William Arkin, a columnist for the Washington Post. I couldn’t believe some of the arrogant and condescending comments made by this sleezeball.

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. (emphasis mine)

It gets worse through his post located at The Troops Also Need to Support the American People - Early Warning

He adds to the debit side of his citizenship ledger with:

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. (emphasis mine)

Based on this fool’s twisted logic, we should blame him for every sin committed in Washington, DC where he works - rapes, murders, everything. Or should we just "accept" that these were the products of bad apples in DC?

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?

This jerk hasn’t a clue. I’ll bet he’s never been near a person in the military or a military family with a service member deployed. Obscene amenities? Like what? Support them in every possible way? More of that kind of support from the likes of him and his fellow defeatists at the WaPo and this war against Islamo-fascists will be lost.

Then he mocks the level of personal and team commitment the troops have shown to the country and the mission, in spite of the weak-kneed support from Democrat politicians and liberals.

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.

We support your guys in the military, but don’t ask for too much of that support. We really would prefer you just go away until we need you for something we deem important, because:

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.

Then he lectures the troops and his readers by saying:

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.

In this jerk’s opinion! There are plenty of people at home who understand what is at stake and that our troops need public, positive support for their mission.

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.

Have to believe? Young? Naive? This kind of condescension toward a military that is smarter, more educated, more mature and more aware of the reality of the world than any cross-section of the military at any time in our history is outrageous! This butt face must think he’s still talking to people who don’t know a service member, or don’t have a relative in service.

What a total putz! I’m disgusted with this pike of puke.

The only good thing about the post is the comments section where nearly everyone gives this weenie a kick.

UPDATE: Powerline has a great commentary on this post, and points to a 2003 post by Hugh Hewitt on Mr. Arkin. 

Michelle Malkin’s blog points to two posts by Bill Roggio about the recent kidnap and killing of US troops in Karbala.

In his second post, Mr. Roggio writes:

Pentagon investigating Iran’s Qods Force role in Karbala attack (The Fourth Rail)

The United States had planned to detail Iran’s involvement in supporting the Shia death squads, as well as the Sunni insurgency, al-Qaeda in Iraq and Ansar al-Sunnah during a press briefing with Major General Bill Caldwell on Wednesday at 7:00 am Eastern. The briefing was purported to have detailed “specifics including shipping documents, serial numbers, maps and other evidence which officials say would irrefutably link Iran to weapons shipments to Iraq.”

The Bush administration has decided to put the briefing “on hold for several reasons, including concerns over the reaction from Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad – as well as inevitable follow-up questions that would be raised over what the U.S. should do about it,” according to FOX News.

Bearing that in mind, we read in Yahoo news that the parade of presidential candidates, anxious to support the troops, are challenging the Administration to be careful not to drift into war with Iran and to be clear about the intelligence basis on which any such decisions would be made.

Obama, a candidate for president in 2008, warned during the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing that senators of both parties will demand “clarity and transparency in terms of U.S. policy so that we don’t repeat some of the mistakes that have been made in the past,” a reference to the faulty intelligence underlying the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

…

Senators including Hagel, George Voinovich (news, bio, voting record), R-Ohio, and Joseph R. Biden Jr., D-Del., sounded frustrated with the administration’s decision not to engage Iran and fellow outcast Syria in efforts to reduce sectarian violence in Iraq.

The Senators want the Administration to talk with Syria and Iran. It doesn’t matter how many people the Iranian IEDs have killed or crippled. It doesn’t matter how much money they’ve pumped into Iraq to destabilize or sway the government. It doesn’t matter if they and their proxies have already sworn to kill Americans - and succeeded.

Let’s talk.

There’s no spectacle like conducting a war and a 2-year presidential campaign at the same time.