ADM. (RET.) JEREMIAH DENTON DISAPPOINTS

Admiral (Ret.) Jeremiah Denton, who survived seven years and seven months as a prisoner of the North Vietnamese, was on Wolf Blizter's Late Edition (Judy Woodruff substituting for Wolf) today and blasted negative comments about the war as demoralizing the troops. I wouldn't have recognized the old sailor -- the picture of him, gaunt and weak, arriving back in the U.S. after his repatriation, kissing the tarmac at the airport upon his return, is indelibly etched into my memory. When late in the program Judy asked him about his feelings about war criticism, he replied, "I didn't say anyone shouldn't criticize the war, I just think that former commanders [Zinni et al]who question it are disgraceful. The troops are tired of hearing 'we support the troops,' they want to hear that we support the cause for which they are prepared to die."

Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
"Forward, the Light Brigade!
"Charge for the guns!" he said:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.

2.

"Forward, the Light Brigade!"
Was there a man dismay'd?
Not tho' the soldier knew
Someone had blunder'd:
Their's not to make reply,
Their's not to reason why,
Their's but to do and die:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.

3.

Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of Hell
Rode the six hundred.

4.

Flash'd all their sabres bare,
Flash'd as they turn'd in air,
Sabring the gunners there,
Charging an army, while
All the world wonder'd:
Plunged in the battery-smoke
Right thro' the line they broke;
Cossack and Russian
Reel'd from the sabre stroke
Shatter'd and sunder'd.
Then they rode back, but not
Not the six hundred.

5.

Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon behind them
Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
While horse and hero fell,
They that had fought so well
Came thro' the jaws of Death
Back from the mouth of Hell,
All that was left of them,
Left of six hundred.

6.

When can their glory fade?
O the wild charge they made!
All the world wondered.
Honor the charge they made,
Honor the Light Brigade,
Noble six hundred.

--Alfred, Lord Tennyson

We can honor the sacrifice without honoring the cause.