The last refuge of scoundrels

Glenn Greenwald has written about an alarming trend coming from the war supporters. The ever-annoying practice of suggesting that all criticism for the President's plan "emboldens the enemy" and "discourages the troops". This is Bill Kristol from yesterdays Fox News Sunday:

Support the troops. Appropriate the funds. Encourage them. Let Dave Petraeus have a chance to win this war. Don't pass a meaningless resolution that, as Joe Lieberman said -- on the one hand, it's non-binding so it's meaningless, but symbolically, it could only encourage our enemies.

This ridiculous criticism has been around since the beginning of the war, yet now it seems that it is given all by itself. In the past, supporting the troops was offered as part of the reason for supporting the war. Now, it is the only one.

Hidden in these comments is the stunning realization that there is nothing to be had in Iraq. The neocons have so thoroughly screwed the pooch on this, that the only thing they can cling to is the thought that our words are somehow shaping a war thousands of miles away.