Troop morale

It's always struck me as the height of demagogic arrogance to suggest that critcizing the war or its handling hurts troops' morale.

The soldiers should know we live in a democracy and that in a democracy, a segment of the population (sometimes small, sometimes large) will always disagree with government policy.

If soldiers don't know this or don't accept this, they aren't fit to wear the uniform anyway.

We've given ourselves the sacred mission of educating the heathens and "giving" them democracy in Afghanistan and Iraq. What sort of message are we sending our supposed proteges when we say "you can't criticize government lunacy if it might hurt one soldier's feelings"?

Sending that message does more to undermine our alleged mission civilisatrice in those countries than anything critics of the war or the president say.