What the troops want

By Michael J.W. Stickings

"Surprising Political Endorsements By U.S. Troops," reads the headline at ABC News. Correspondent Martha Raddatz asked some troops in Iraq about their views on the presidential race back home and found that they like Obama and want the war to end (or at least for the troops to be pulled out).

"Though the military is generally a more conservative group," writes Raddatz, soldiers... are just as eager for a pull-out as the Democratic candidates."

And this is somehow "surprising"?

Of course, it's an unscientific survey, but I think Will Bunch is right:

[T]his article is one more layer of evidence that those of us who say we support the troops by wanting them to end this misguided mission and return safely are, well, yes, supporting the troops.

And yet the ABC article says that what it found was "surprising" -- leaving the reader to assume that we should all be surprised that more troops aren't backing McCain and his awesome surge. (It also notes, without any backup whatsoever, that "the military is generally a more conservative group." Maybe -- but prove it.) To me, there's only one thing "surprising" about the article.

That somebody asked our troops, what do you think?

The way this war has gone, supporting the troops means bringing them home.

That -- and not more and endless war -- is what they want and what they deserve.