Dave Winer reams Paula Zahn for questioning Tom Daschle about his comments about the impending war, and then says, “Daschle voiced a concern that many Americans have, at an appopriate time. Once the war is under way, he and we are commited, like it or not. ”

Well, I admire the core sentiment, but there's a bug in the last line or two of that script, Dave.

The whole “support our troops” rope-a-dope just annoys the shit out of me, to use undiplomatic language. When I was in the Gulf during Operation Earnest Oil Escort, I would have felt plenty well supported by someone at home saying, “We love our boys, now get there asses out of there right now and bring them home!” Anybody who says that speaking up against the administration's ongoing violation of the same international law it has held Iraq up to is not “supporting our troops” and being unpatriotic is speaking through their anal orfice.

Dissidence is the ultimate patriotism–speaking your mind because you love your country so much you never want to see it do wrong, and when it does wrong in your name you want it set right. As someone who has experienced first hand what the Marines do, and has spent time in a gas mask waiting for the missiles to hit, I have the deepest respect for the professionalism and patriotism of the men and women in the military. And I'd rather not see any more of their blood spilled over this particular lack of presidential leadership.

It isn't patriotism to march young people into a war that violates the legal obligations this country passed into law over the last half-century to dispose of some dictator on a timeline more convenient to us than what the international community will allow. It isn't patriotism to go bomb and kill to inflict our view of how the Iraqis should live upon them. There are better ways to foster democracy in Iraq than bombing them. That's my opinion. I'm going to keep telling people it. I'm going to protest. It's my democratic duty to protest and shout and scream when I think the country is going in the wrong direction; if more people had done that a few years ago, we wouldn't be in this fix right now.

I support our troops. Now get them the hell out of there so I don't have to support their widows and orphans.