The First Person to Say "I DON'T Support the Troops"

Is Joel Stein of the LA Times.

I've never seen anyone move the criticism of the war from the Bush administration to the troops themselves, but Stein does it. I have a feeling this op-ed is going to be all over the place for the next few days.

Get ready for some hate mail, Joel. I disagree with him, but not in the way or for the reasons that the vast majority of red-blooded Americans will. I guess I'm one of those people who oppose the war, but don't blame 18 year olds, many of whom had no other viable option than to go into the military, for not making a moral decision about their role in the military and more specifically in Iraq.

That said, I'm glad he wrote this article. The phrase "support the troops" annoys me anyway, as it always seems to be some litmus test as to whether one is a "true American", i.e., if you don't support the war, you don't "support the troops", and that's akin to treason.

Maybe Mr. Stein will pave the way for people like me, who don't want to go as far as he does in this article, by blowing the stigma off of nonsupport for both the troops AND the war.