Sgt Stryker posts a letter from a Marine vet and adds some points of contention of his own. From the letter:

Before approving anymore campaign ads or preparing for the fall Presidential debates, I challenge you both to stand together before our nation and ask all Americans to unify on one issue: victory in Iraq. Political leaders trading personal attacks about the minutia of the past aspects of the war has real human consequence. It fuels American pessimism about the future of Iraq, despite a growing Iraqi optimism. There is one undeniable truth about present-day Iraq: 135,000 American troops, alongside over 17,000 coalition counterparts and countless Iraqis are courageously sacrificing for victory over tyranny everyday. The trendy phrase, “I support the troops, but not the war” is a direct affront to these men and women as they risk their lives to ensure others have the same freedoms we celebrate. The American military aim has always been victory. At most times, mission-success and mission-failure result in either life or death respectively for our troops.

Unequivocally, support for the Iraq War and support for our troops is inseparable. Senator Kerry knows well the Vietnam War lesson that when we do not support the troops, we inevitably lose the war.

— Sgt. Stryker, quoting Nathan Boaz: A letter from a Marine vet

In my online life I have encountered a non-hawkish Democrat Navyman with who my discussions of politics have always been civil, and non-vitriolic. I suppose it stems from the presumptions that we both share: presumptions that Nathan Boaz wrote of in the aforementioned.

It amuses me that the same people who speak in terms of black and white towards their political enemies complain about that treatment when it is thrown right back at them. One liberal I know would say that Bush lied… outright lied, and that there is no margin of error that would allow for Bush’s being mistaken. However, when confronted with the suppositions that Jihadic terrorists are beyond bargaining or appeasement, that in their tradition ceasefires are opportunities to regroup, and that their rationale for hating us is that we are not Moslem — and, proven by Hassoun’s murder today that even Moslems are not safe from their vile activities — and that we are “Uh-’murricans,” as some of these liberals would derisively refer to the less nuanced of Middle Americans, they’d be the quicker to jump the gun on saying that “things are not as simple.”

I’m sorry. There is room for sophisticated thought. While we can argue on the musical merits, or lack thereof, of Bond’s new album, Classified, support for our troops without support for the cause of their actions is just too sophisticated a sell. Then again, irony escapes those that exhibit it most.