Arkin's Arrogance

In what has to be one of the most ridiculous pieces written in recent memory, William Arkin, a Washington Post columnist specializing in “National and Homeland Security” writes about an NBC News story that reports comments by US military people in Iraq who express consternation with the anti-War criticism that has become the drumbeat of many MSM sources:

I'm sure the soldiers were expressing a majority opinion common amongst the ranks - that's why it is news - and I'm also sure no one in the military leadership or the administration put the soldiers up to expressing their views, nor steered NBC reporter Richard Engel to the story.

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.

Friday's NBC Nightly News included a story from my colleague and friend Richard Engel, who was embedded with an active duty Army infantry battalion from Fort Lewis, Washington.

Engel relayed how "troops here say they are increasingly frustrated by American criticism of the war. Many take it personally, believing it is also criticism of what they've been fighting for."

Apparently, Arkin is upset, yes upset, that the troops are allowed to note that they don’t appreciate the sentiment of many who criticize the Iraq war, their role in the war, and the government leaders who have tried to prosecute the war. Recognizing, of course, that every one of the critics fervently “supports the troops.”

It amazes me how thin skinning Left-leaning media critics of our current policies actually are. They are allowed to criticize, to be sanctimonious, to be arrogant, to be factually wrong (more often than I can count). But let someone respond forcefully and have the temerity to suggest that another opinion might, just might, have equal weight, and it’s shut-up please.

Don’t believe me? Arkin continues:

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.

In a follow-up piece, entitled, ironically enough, The Arrogant and Intolerant Speak Out, Arkin apologizes for a few over-the-top, anti-military comments in his first column, but continues to whine about soldiers having opinions, quoting angry responses from military men and woman to his column and then making pathetic arguments to blunt them. Free speech, anyone?

It’s true, the “arrogant and intolerant” have spoken, but to find out who the “arrogant and intolerant” actually are, Bill Arkin and his MSM pals ought to look in the mirror.