Support the Troops--by Ignoring Them

Frank Rich points out how easy it is for the wingnuts to never have to say they're sorry:

But in at least one way we are not back in Vietnam. Iraq hawks, like Vietnam hawks before them, often take the line that to criticize America's mission in Iraq is to attack the troops. That paradigm just doesn't hold...

There was, for instance, according to the Los Angeles Times, "nary a mention" of the Iraq war or "the prices paid by American soldiers and their families" at the lavish Inauguration bash thrown for the grandees of the Christian right by the Rev. Lou Sheldon of the Traditional Values Coalition at Washington's Ritz-Carlton...

However, that didn't keep the media from saying pretty much just the opposite:

...television's ceremonial coverage of the Inauguration, much of which resembled the martial pageantry broadcast by state-owned networks in banana republics, made a dutiful show out of the White House's claim that the four-day bacchanal was a salute to the troops. The only commentator to rudely call attention to the disconnect between that fictional pretense and the reality was Judy Bachrach, a writer for Vanity Fair, who dared say on Fox News that the inaugural's military ball and prayer service would not keep troops "safe and warm" in their "flimsy" Humvees in Iraq. She was promptly given the hook. (The riveting three-minute clip, labeled "Fair and Balanced Inauguration," can be found at ifilm.com, where it has seized the "most popular" slot once owned by Jon Stewart's slapdown of Tucker Carlson.)

Alas, there were no Fox News cameras to capture what may have been the week's most surreal "salute" to the troops, the "Heroes Red, White and Blue Inaugural Ball" attended by Donald Rumsfeld and Paul Wolfowitz. The event's celebrity stars included the Fox correspondent Geraldo Rivera, who had been booted from Iraq at the start of the war for compromising "operational security" by telling his viewers the position of the American troops he loves so much. He joked to the crowd that his deployment as an "overpaid" reporter was tantamount to that of an "underpaid hero" in battle. The attendees from Walter Reed and Bethesda Naval Hospital, some of whose long-term care must be picked up by private foundations because of government stinginess, responded with "deafening silence," reported Roxanne Roberts of The Washington Post. Ms. Roberts understandably left the party after the night's big act: Nile Rodgers and Chic sang the lyrics "Clap your hands, hoo!" and "Dance to the beat" to "a group of soldiers missing hands and legs."...

Rich goes on to note that Team Bush has already moved on to "All Social Security, all the time," taking the public with it (apparently some two thirds have no friend, relative or co-worker in the combat zone). Iraq gets tuned out--mere entertainment/small tragedy as yet another death is announced at the end of the national newscast (or gets slightly more attention on the local news). He notes that Bush didn't bother to say "Iraq" in his inaugural address (because, as I've said, he doesn't want to be reminded of it--he wants someone to bail him out of it).

And, to conclude with the beginning, Rich opens with the observation that we've already had some five V-I Days--funny how they didn't work out. In order, they were the fall of Baghdad (April 9, 2003), "Misison Accomplished" (May 1, 2003), Saddam's capture (December 14, 2003), Allawi's takeover (June 28, 2004), and now, the "election" coming up this weekend, which already the Bushistas are admitting will be about as definitive a V-I Day as any of the others.

Time to think about declaring victory and getting the hell outta there...unfortunately, though, it won't be as easy as it was in Vietnam, since Bush's folly has now resulted in both de facto training and arming of more terrorists than the US public dares to imagine...