A tip of the hat to the Media Research Center, for catching Andy Rooney, who plays a grump old man on the CBS News program Sixty Minutes, compounding the disgrace of Dan Rather, in slandering thos who fight in Iraq, as soldiers or contractors.

Here is some of what Rooney wrote in his syndicated newspaper column:

Treating soldiers fighting their war as brave heroes is an old civilian trick designed to keep the soldiers at it. But you can be sure our soldiers in Iraq are not all brave heroes gladly risking their lives for us sitting comfortably back here at home....

We pin medals on their chests to keep them going. We speak of them as if they volunteered to risk their lives to save ours, but there isn't much voluntary about what most of them have done. A relatively small number are professional soldiers. During the last few years, when millions of jobs disappeared, many young people, desperate for some income, enlisted in the Army. About 40 percent of our soldiers in Iraq enlisted in the National Guard or the Army Reserve to pick up some extra money and never thought they'd be called on to fight. They want to come home....

We must support our soldiers in Iraq because it's our fault they're risking their lives there. However, we should not bestow the mantle of heroism on all of them for simply being where we sent them. Most are victims, not heroes.

Douglas Hanson's open letter to Dan Rather and CBS News is even more relevant that before.

Shame on them all at CBS News.