Supporting the Troops
By killing them?

Kingsley's column in the WP The Phony War Against the Critics makes a nice rebuttle to one White House argument against Rep. Murtha's advocacy of beginning withdrawal of the troops in Iraq now:

There are arguments against this -- some good, some bad -- but the worst is the one delivered by Cheney and others with their most withering scorn. It is the argument that it is wrong to tell American soldiers risking their lives in a foreign desert that they are fighting for a mistake.

One strength of this argument is that it doesn't require defending the war itself. The logic applies equally whether the war is justified or not. Another strength is that the argument is true, in a way: It is a terrible thing to tell someone he or she is risking death in a mistaken cause. But it is more terrible actually to die in that mistaken cause.