Like most Americans, U.S. troops have differing opinions regarding America’s presence within Iraq.

Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh recently criticized soldiers who have returned from serving our country overseas who are also opposed to our presence in Iraq. He called these people “phony soldiers.”

The irony in the statement is not lost on me: One of the very conservative pundits whose arsenal of arguments includes the phrase “support the troops,” who uses that line of attack whenever his liberal counterparts try to have a reasonable argument with him, is only supportive of the troops that carry the same opinion as him.

I respect the troops; I also respect the fact that not all of them are going to have similar opinions to my own. To expect that would be absurd.

But why in the world would Rush Limbaugh consider troops that disagree with his position as “phony?” There’s only one excuse, really: he doesn’t care for their opinion at all.

So long as the soldiers’ opinions matched Limbaugh’s, there was legitimacy to his argument. Now that some troops are beginning to disagree with him, he needs to find a way to discredit those troops so that his argument remains justifiable. It’s sort of like saying, “I support the troops so long as they support me.”

The fact that troops are beginning to lose support for this war isn’t a new phenomenon. In February of 2006, for instance, a survey of U.S. troops found that 72% of soldiers in Iraq wanted the war over by the end of the year.

Within the same survey, 42% of troops thought that their mission in Iraq was “either somewhat or very unclear to them, that they have no understanding of it at all, or [were] unsure” of what they were meant to be doing.

Would you consider these troops to be “phonies?” Rush Limbaugh might.

The fact of the matter is, like most Americans, U.S. troops have differing opinions regarding America’s presence within Iraq. Some believe troops should stay until the “mission” (however you define it) is over; others believe that troop withdrawals should begin within the next year.

Each soldier is entitled to his or her own point of view.

However you fit within the debate, it is unacceptable to condemn a service member simply for their opinions. Rush Limbaugh is wrong for cherry-picking the opinions of members of the military to justify his own opinion and wrong for saying that those who disagree with him are “phony soldiers.” He should apologize for his words; but knowing him, he’ll probably blame liberals for this whole mess.

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