This is an interesting column from Ralph Peters on supporting the troops. I very much agree with his perspective.

We've seen President Bush dressed up in a flight suit, grinning like Alfred E. Neuman among troops who desperately want to believe in their commander-in-chief. We've seen Sen. Hillary Clinton do drive-bys in Iraq - just long enough to make political statements, pose with the troops, then zip home.

For his part, Sen. Obama at least has the integrity to not even pretend he cares about the troops - he doesn't go anyplace more dangerous than a Chicago church pew. No recent aspirant for the Oval Office has known or cared so little about our military.

I'm just damned angry. The right won't admit any mistakes in Iraq, while the left seeks to undercut progress there.

Honorable, valiant and tenacious, our troops deserve better leaders. Never in our history have we seen so profound a contrast between those who serve and those who decide how they should be employed.

We also face, for the first time, national-level leaders who would rather lose a war than lose an election.

What actions in Washington would truly honor those 4,000 dead service members?

* From President Bush, a straightforward, no-excuses apology for his administration's arrogance and earlier mistakes in this war.

* From Sen. Clinton, a public denunciation of her Hollywood pals (who keep funding movies portraying our soldiers as atrocity-addicted psychotics) and a commitment to listen to our leading generals before making any decisions regarding troop withdrawals.

* From Sen. Obama, a two-week visit to dirty-boots Army and Marine units in Iraq (not the Green Zone and no photo ops) and a pledge to give a fair hearing to military advice before surrendering to al Qaeda in Iraq.

* From both parties in Congress, a return to the policy that, in wartime, politics stops at the water's edge.

Fat chance. We'll see Osama bin Laden become a Baptist first.

Four thousand dead service members in Iraq? Does any reader of this column believe that Bush, Clinton or Obama has lost a single hour of sleep thinking about those troops and their families?

I suspect that pathetic can't-get-a-date-so-I'll-protest-the-war guy on the street corner down here in the DC suburbs felt a more-genuine concern than any of the above.