by TChris

A few days ago, TalkLeft argued that it isn't "unpatriotic" (as some on the right have suggested) to dissent from an unjust war. Gen. Anthony Zinni, former commander of the U.S. Central Command, agrees:

"We've lost 799 kids and another 4,500 are injured and seriously maimed. We've spent $200 billion so far. Where are we for all that?"

"Some people are calling me unpatriotic for saying these things," Gen. Zinni concluded. "I think it's unpatriotic not to ask these questions."

Nor is it unpatriotic to recognize that the war has made the world less safe.

Confirming the assessment that the "world is far less safe" as a consequence of the U.S.-led invasion and occupation of Iraq last year, the London-based International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS) stated this week that the occupation "has become a potent global recruitment pretext for al Qaeda, which now has more than 18,000 militants ready to strike western targets."

True patriots care enough about their country to tell the truths that must be told -- even at risk to their careers.

Two profiles in courage stand out in the expose of the Iraqi prison disaster. They are Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba -- who investigated reports of the abuses of the Iraqi prisoners at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison -- and Army Spc. Joseph Darby, the military policeman who alerted Army authorities by turning over a disc of photographs showing the shocking mistreatment of the prisoners.