Troops Silence at Fort Bragg Starts a Debate All Its Own

From the New York Times:

WASHINGTON, June 29 - So what happened to the applause?

When President Bush visits military bases, he invariably receives a foot-stomping, loud ovation at every applause line. At bases like Fort Bragg - the backdrop for his Tuesday night speech on Iraq - the clapping is often interspersed with calls of "Hoo-ah," the military's all-purpose, spirited response to, well, almost anything.

So the silence during his speech was more than a little noticeable, both on television and in the hall. On Wednesday, as Mr. Bush's repeated use of the imagery of the Sept. 11 attacks drew bitter criticism from Congressional Democrats, there was a parallel debate under way about whether the troops sat on their hands because they were not impressed, or because they thought that was their orders.

I watched a repeat playing of the speech on Fox News Monday night. I will say it is rather strange watching a president walking into a hall filled with silent troops. A polite applause would probably have been better.

The more I think about the speech, the more I start to realize that the message of the speech was really meant for the American soldier. Oh, the speech was certainly billed to the press and the public as a major event, where the president would level to the people. But that's just simple advertising. The message of the speech was to the soldiers, saying the U.S. is on the right course. We're winning the war on terrorism, we're staying till we finish the job, and America is behind you. It was the same message, given in hundreds of previous speeches given by Bush at various campaign rallies and events. The only difference was that this speech was held as a solemn event in a military base.

The Bush administration has a problem. Not only are they bogged down in a no-win insurgency war in Iraq, but they're also starting to see public opposition to the war. The recent public polls show that more people oppose the war in Iraq, and that Bush's job performance numbers have also dropped. What is worst is that this news and information is certainly being filtered over to the soldiers fighting in the trenches of Iraq. They are seeing the beginnings of this opposition, and are probably wondering if the public will start demonstrating against the war a la Vietnam. Once soldiers start questioning why they are doing their duty to their country, when their country doesn't support them in the war, then that war is lost.

So President Bush has two fires to put out. The first fire is certainly the public's opposition to the war. And the only way to solve that is to pull the U.S. out of Iraq--which the White House, and PNAC will never do. The second is to quell the doubts that soldiers may have in fighting an unpopular war. This speech was designed to quell that doubt in the soldiers. But if the war continues as it is, with public opposition, and opposition growing in Congress, it is not going to be long before that doubt will start to grow.

And the 2006 midterm elections are coming.