William Arkin just won't shut up.
Having made a mess all over himself, the Washington Post, and much of the blogosphere with his first two posts (see here and here), Arkin is obviously trying to cover his butt with his latest post.
He starts out apologizing for calling our soldiers "mercenaries" and proceeds into some meaningless pablum about how
When we in society make war and consent to war, we accept the righteousness of those who fight on our behalf with the knowledge that they are a part of an organized and disciplined military force that operates lawfully and chivalrously. We also accept that they kill only as a last resort, and that they are engaged in a just endeavor that in its existence and though their conduct presents the prospect of restoring peaceful relations once the enemy has been defeated.
Unfortunately, like so many people, Arkin can't simply apologize for being a complete ass and let it go. No, he has to try to make his obnoxious point a different way and so, having extricated the left foot from his mouth, sticks the right one in its place.
When I hear soldiers and war supporters expressing their frustrations about the American public or the news media, something doesn't quite seem right -- even when the soldiers and war supporters aren't talking about me. I know that those in uniform would like to bring the war to an honorable conclusion, but are they blaming those who are against the war and the news media for having tied their hands under a Bush administration which is certainly the most warrior-oriented in the past 20 years? Is there no space for respectful acceptance of the possibility that people who also love the nation and care about our security think that the country is wasting national treasure - lives and money - on an unwinnable cause?
In the middle of all of this are the troops, the pawns in political battles at home as much as they are on the real battlefield. We unquestioningly "support" these troops for the very reasons that they are pawns. We give them what we can to be successful, and we have a contract with them, because they are our sons and daughters and a part of us, not to place them in an impossible spot.
Translation: Don't blame us for not supporting you. It's all Bush's fault.
This is a really cheap rhetorical trick Arkin has employed here. He's toned down the rhetoric a bit but is still making the same point: Military people, you don't have a right to be frustrated with the media, the left, and the American people who have no stamina for war and who want instant solutions to long-standing conflicts.
In other words, this apology isn't one.
UPDATE: Hot Air has video of Black5 responding.
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