Liberal Blog Daily Kos caves, sides with Arkin

William Arkin, the shameless Washington Post columnist blogger and military basher, has at least one friend:

Arkin Was Right - We Do Have a Mercenary Army and They Do Owe Us!

by n00161

Sun Feb 04, 2007 at 06:48:57 AM PST

All hell has broken loose on the right wing Milblogs concerning an article William Arkin wrote at the Washington Post. In this article, Arkin dared to cross the line and say that the Military is out of line when it criticizes the American Public for being against the war. The military's place is to do the bidding of the United States citizenry .. period! It is not for them to criticize the American population for deciding they no longer want to fund a war.

Little Green Footballs weighs in here.

Update from Arkin's Blog:

Demonization and Responsibility

I've been making my way through the mail and online comments I've received in response to my columns last week.

The many e-mails I've gotten privately from people serving in the military are, not surprisingly, the most respectful and reflective. Some correspondents are downright indignant, some are sarcastic, and most are hurt by the "mercenary" epithet and my commentary. But they are philosophical about their service and where we are in the war and the country today.

The torrents of other mail -- biting, fanatical, threatening -- represent the worst of polarized and hate-filled America. I'm not complaining about being criticized or being made the latest punching bag for those who subsist off of high-volume conquest. Nor am I apologizing for addressing, however imperfectly, the questions I did last week, nor for being critical of the military.

It's ironic that while Arkin notes the respectful tone of the correspondence he has received from military personnel, he obviously did not follow that example in his posts. Furthermore, without trying to throw any military personnel under the bus, but the 900+ comments Arkin's original sordid post received contained numerous responses by people claiming to be current or former military. And they certainly were not all that respectful and reflective, further proof that he has no idea what he is talking about, or maybe just talks out of his ass.

Here are a taste of a few comments left on his blog:

Is it too much to ask Mr. Arkin to do a few minutes of elementary research and a bit of fifth grade math before he pontificates upon matters about which he knows little? Granted, as a journalist he is arguably functionally innumerate, but still...

If Mr. Arkin had ever served in one of the U.S. uniformed services, it is unlikely that he would have displayed such egregious ignorance about the "decent wage" soldiers, sailors, and airmen earn when they go into harm's way, much less.

Rodger Morris

Veteran, Beirut Multinational Force

1983

and

As a vet in an all volunteer force, I would recommend that you go on a book tour with this POS article. Your first stop needs to be at the headquarters of 2/6/2 MEF at Camp Lejuene NC. I'm sure those fine young Marines would be all ears for you.

Being a vet, I don't owe you squat!!! I don't see you picking up a rifle and standing a post. If you don't like it here, I suggest you move to France where your bovine excrement is acceptable to the masses!