Over in the New York Post, JPod writes a bit about the tragic torture and murder of two American servicemen in Iraq, and observes:

Before word came that the two Americans of blessed memory were possibly beheaded, the ur-blogger Andrew Sullivan wrote that he prayed for the safety of our soldiers but wondered how America could say it would be wrong for the insurgents to torture our guys when we supposedly torture their guys.

What will such people say about the actions of the military men and women who must do their jobs now in the wake of the unspeakable murders of Tucker and Menchaca?

Will this increasingly passionate refusal to draw distinctions between the actions of Americans at arms and the behavior of Islamofascist monsters continue?

Will they show support for our troops at the moment they most need it - real support, as opposed to crocodile tears and the displays of profound disrespect for their mission? Or will they continue to use any means possible - including harsh judgments of the horrifying split-second choices made by young men in a dangerous situation who have put their lives on the line for the rest of us - to get at the president whom Sullivan, with his typical tone of reserved understatement, yesterday called "shallow, monstrous, weak and petty"?

Will the news media treat our men and women at arms well at such a time by giving them the benefit of the doubt, or will they make another choice?

We shall see whether "I support the troops" is a phrase that means something.

I have to disagree a bit. I feel like we've already had this debate, around the time of the Joel Stein column, and at least among the TKS readers who weighed in, there was an overwhelming majority who concluded "I support the troops" often means nothing, if it's followed by a denuciation of the war's goals, the commander in chief, the secretary of defense or others in the chain of command, theorizing about vast conspiracies, or insinuations that barbaric behavior on the part of soldiers is the norm.

Some of the responses can be found here, here, and here. In short, war opponents can keep saying that despite all of their complaints, negativity, accusations, etc., that they "support the troops," but many individuals in the military - and their families - don't believe them for a second.