Minor Thoughts from me to you

Support the Troops: Bring Them Home

Driving to church on Saturday, for my daughter's dedication service, I passed a car with an anti-war bumper sticker. Of course. This is Madison, WI after all. It said: "Support the Troops. Bring Them Home". It's a nice sentiment. But is it actually shared by the troops themselves?

Occasionally, I have my doubts. This interview from Iraq is part of the reason why. The Dungeon of Fallujah:

Sergeant Dehaan was comfortable with his mission in Iraq and the flaws of the Iraqi Police he was tasked with training and molding.

"I prefer these small and morally ambiguous wars to the big morally black-and-white wars," he said to me later. "It would be nice if we had more support back home like we did during World War II. But look at how many people were killed in World War II. If a bunch of unpopular small wars prevent another popular big war, I'll take 'em."

If you want to support the troops -- if you really want to support the troops -- spend some time reading Michael Totten and Michael Yon. You might even want to spend some time reading abu muqawama's counter-insurgency blog. True, it's not exactly light reading all of the time. But, I think the troops deserve at least that much support.