A couple of readers thus: “How can you say that the honor we accord to our

combat troops is ‘indivisible’? What about those Abu Ghraib jokers? They

were in a combat zone, weren’t they?”

For heaven’s sake. Of course it is possible to serve dishonorably, and

always has been. So all right, if you

want to pick nits over it, the honor due to combat troops is not

*absolutely* indivisible. I don’t think this affect my main point.

A stronger counter-argument, it seems to me, is posed by Kerry’s

post-Vietnam behavior — medal-tossing, testifying, etc. Does that “cancel

out” the honor he is due as a serving combat sailor? Not for me it doesn’t,

but I’ll concede that the point is arguable.

Meanwhile, here is my favorite incoming e-mail on the topic to date: “I’ll

tell you one thing, all arguments aside: I am so glad that this, or possibly

the next election, will be the last in which Vietnam is an issue.”

Amen to that.