You've heard all of the less-than-completely-true-or-accurate phrases from those on the left who claim that "dissent is patriotic" and that they "support the troops, but oppose the war." Well, over at one of the liberal bastions of the blogosphere, Daily Kos, the following was posted in the wake of the brutal murder, burning and dismemberment of four American civilians guarding a food convoy into Fallujah.

Every death should be on the front page (2.46 / 26)

Let the people see what war is like. This isn't an Xbox game. There are real repercussions to Bush's folly.

That said, I feel nothing over the death of merceneries [sic]. They aren't in Iraq because of orders, or because they are there trying to help the people make Iraq a better place. They are there to wage war for profit. Screw them.

by kos on Thu Apr 1st, 2004 at 10:08:56 EST

Well, reaction from the saner, less anti-American portions of the blogosphere have been swift. Instapundit has a series of links here.

Daily Kos gets a lot of advertising from Blogads (which I still can't get to contact me for getting ads here on Hoystory), and Michael Friedman started firing off letters to congressional candidates who advertise on Kos' site. Thus far, Texas Democrat Martin Frost has done the right thing by pulling his ads and severing his relationship with Kos.

I suspect that within the next 24 hours Kos will post something to the effect that advertisers pulling their ads is "stifling dissent" and accuse his detractors of "McCarthyism."

Kos' comments are disgusting and his new post defending his earlier comments is equally disgusting.

Kos attempts to differentiate between "mercenaries" and regular troops thusly:

Back to Iraq, our men and women in uniform are there under orders, trying to make the best of an impossible situation. The war is not their fault, and I will always defend their honor and bravery to the end of my days. But the mercenary is a whole different deal. They willingly enter a war zone, and do so because of the paycheck. They're not there for humanitarian reasons (I doubt they'd donate half their paycheck to the Red Cross or whatever). They're there because the money is DAMN good. They answer to no one except their CEO. They are dangerous, hence international efforts (however fruitless they may be) to ban their use. [emphasis in original]

What Kos is too blinkered to realize is two things:

First, there are many troops (not all, but many) who also willingly enter the war zone. They believe that they are truly doing good for the people of Iraq. Kos would love to believe that the soldiers and Marines are all misguided teenagers following orders that they, in their heart of hearts, oppose. It might make Kos feel better about his opposition to the war, but it doesn't make him right.

Second, the security personnel (I'll leave Kos to use the inaccurate, but slanderous term "mercenary") are there for the paycheck -- so are the troops, frankly -- but that doesn't make their horrible death and sacrifice a triviality. Kos likes to ignore this fact, but they were guarding a food convoy. Not guns. Not ammunition. Food. Also, these private security types (note that the ones killed that whose names we know were all military veterans) are doing a job that 50 years ago would've been done by regular troops. As the military has streamlined into more of a fighting force the Pentagon has needed these types of services from the private sector. Kos makes it sound like these guys are in Iraq on their own and "answer only to their CEO." That's a lie. They answer to the military and civilian commanders on the ground in Iraq because that's what they're contracted to do.

Kos' comments reveal a real hatred in his heart. And his non-apology apology doesn't make it any better.