Can you support the troops and not the war?

Re: Mark Denney, support for war’s false premise not same support for troops. Mariette Daily Journal, 8/17/06

Mr Denney,
You are not giving aid and comfort to the enemy. Any individual has the right to disagree with anything he wants to in this country. The problem is when persons in the leadership of the country make statements like: (Dick Durban) "... Americans had done to prisoners in their control, you would most certainly believe this must have been done by Nazis, Soviets in their gulags, or some mad regime—Pol Pot or others—that had no concern for human beings." Or
(John Kerry) "And there is no reason, Bob, that young American soldiers need to be going into the homes of Iraqis in the dead of night, terrorizing kids and children, you know, women,.." And others.
When and individual disagrees with a policy or action, he is merely exercising his constitutional right to free speech. When a party leader makes statements like "Bush Lied and thousands died" it is no longer simply free speech. And before anyone screams, they DO have that right. The problem is that in the rest of the world, including the enemy locations, it is seen as disunity. Any disunity seen by the enemy emboldens them. Clearly, that has been shown to have been true in the liberal war of wars, Vietnam. General Giap has so stated in his memoirs.
Is it treason? Of course not. Is it something that helps the troops? NO. Does it harm the troops? I would say so, but if you ask the troops they strongly say it does. You don't have to be silent. You do have an obligation to chastise the national leaders that appear to speak for you when they make over the top statement.
Yes, Mr. Lanzotti is probably arrogant. I am and you are. We all have opinions. I like to think mine are right and obvious. Possibly not always. In this case, we can debate but I like to think that my opponents in the debate understand the fact that although you can support troops and not support the war, you must not damage their efforts. That is NOT support.
I appreciate the fact that you didn’t use the "Bush Lied" line. You say that most soldiers think they are avenging 9/11. I don’t necessarily think that polling is accurate but to some extent it is in fact, true that this war is revenge. Not against Saddam but against our enemies. 9/11 was a battle. Afghanistan was a battle. Iraq is a battle. The war continues.
No, Saddam did not plot 9/11. No, he didn’t, to our knowledge, fund that attack or train the terrorists. He did fund terrorism(ask the Israelis killed by suicide bombers). Newer documents even indicate he might have been involved is some peripheral way. The more important fact is that Iraq is a battle in the current world war against Islamic Fascists. If you think we are at war in a major way you understand that. If not, you have not yet been convinced. In my opinion, I think that most people will eventually be so convinced. The recent airline plot has shown some that the enemy is still out there.