Bashing the troops and getting away with it

I am pasting this entry directly from http://www.strategypage.com/default.asp

"In light of the blog based blowback over his original post, Washington Post
writer Bill Arkin fired off two responses. Arkin's replies seemed to fall more
into the "I'm sorry if you were offended", and actually heaped more insults on
the troops. As if he did not get his butt kicked enough after referring to the
all-volunteer force as mercenaries, Arkin seemed to be asking for more. However,
Arkin's response also seems to indicate that the media is more willing to fight
a war against the war on terror rather than to call out opponents of the war on
apparent hypocrisy.
It seems that the media and the anti-war movement
understands some implications that the internet and 24-hour news coverage have
for the troops, but seems unwilling to keep that in mind. It is not 1942, when
the Chicago Tribune's revelation of American codebreaking at Midway managed to
escape the attention of the Axis. Today, when the New York Times blows
intelligence programs, the Washington Post's columnists labels the troops
mercenaries, Newsweek releases a report that is inaccurate, or when an anti-war
politician compares American troops to the Khmer Rouge, it spreads across the
world at the speed of light.
Naturally, such ill-considered decisions
by these media outlets and politicians draw fire. This then leads to
polarization. The offended troops see this as elite media members not
understanding what is going on. The media, of course, digs in its heels,
charging the military with wanting to censor the news, never considering that
there is a responsibility to carefully consider the words one uses in that
debate, particularly given the fact that those comments will spread around the
world. The troops usually are caught in the middle, taking incoming fire from
the media, while those who support their mission return fire. Too often, those
troops caught in the middle of the debate, often see their opinions lost in the
din.
It is a stretch for anyone to believe that the military wants to
preclude debate about the war on terror. Freedom of speech and freedom of the
press are part of what they are defending – and indeed, are trying to make
possible in Iraq and Afghanistan, among other places. That said, the troops do
have a right to request that the American people conduct the debate in a manner
that does not put the troops in greater danger. "– Harold C. Hutchison
(haroldc.hutchison@gmail.com)

This shows how the media continues to bash the troops and thus the war , even when call out on their biased reporting .

The war will be lost from within the US , not on the battlefield if this is continued without consequences for the perpetrators of the seditious conduct of parts of the media .