Aid and Comfort to the Enemy

Ted Kennedy's comments about Abu Ghraib - "On March 19, 2004, President Bush asked, 'Who would prefer that Saddam's torture chambers still be open?' Shamefully, we now learn that Saddam's torture chambers reopened under new management - US management." - were a shameful example of the ridiculous exaggerations of the "anti-war" Left. Jeff Jacoby, in this column, considers them much more than shameful:

There is nothing wrong with political passion. Nor is there anything wrong with criticizing the administration's conduct of the war. But accusing the US Army of being no better than Ba'athist torturers is not constructive criticism. Shrugging when a formidable politician broadcasts such a terrible libel is not responsible citizenship. Those are forms of propaganda, and propaganda in wartime is a lethal weapon. To turn that weapon against the United States is to give aid and comfort to the enemy.

As Jacoby shows, this is not an aberration for Kennedy.