Last night on Scarborough Country Joe took a few minutes out of his show's regular barrage of over-blown and over-hyped violent crimes to address his perception of media bias regarding coverage of the war in Iraq. Joe Scarborough quickly countered Gen. (ret) Barry McCaffrey's (my favorite MSNBC guest, a stand-up, no-nonsense breath of fresh air in the stale predictability of these highly spun shows) assessment that the war in Iraq is a huge problem and has been badly executed with his brilliantly well-reasoned and articulated rationale for supporting the war:

"I am going to continue supporting the war until the grunts on the ground don't support the war. And, right now, all I am saying is that the guys that I am talking over there still believe in what they are doing. "

Are you kidding me? I cannot think of a more simplistic and brain-dead way of formulating a position on the war in Iraq. Of course many troops believe in what they're doing. By definition, someone who volunteers to serve their country in the armed forces feels that it is an honorable and worthy thing to do. They signed up to defend America, to serve their country, and they go and do what their civilian controlled military tells them to do. They follow orders, that's their job, and clearly (luckily) they're very good at it. How these individuals feel about their duty is irrelevant to the discussion of this country's foreign policy. People in uniform feel proud to do what their country asks them to do, and they should. The question is: Are the sacrifices these people are willing to make worth it? Answering "yes" or "no" regarding Iraq requires that you examine a multitude of complex issues, none of which involve an ad-hoc poll of how a few grunts feel about their duty!

Joe Scarborough wrapped up his segment with the following comments:

"the troops that I am talking to over there, again, so many of them are dismayed because of the way this story is being reported at home and in Europe. And they say that that really is one of their biggest challenges day in and day out. And something has got to be done about it. "

What exactly would Joe like to have done about it? In any case, he is doing something about. Show's like Scarborough Country keep spouting off the same Bush administration platitudes and claims of media bias in an effort to counter and evade the discussion of how we got into, and how we get out, of the mess in Iraq. Once again the issue is dumbed down and another opportunity to have a serious discussion of the issues is squandered.