Ben Stein's commentary on Spectator.org is a response to Joel Stein's commentary in the Los Angeles Times.  Read Joel Stein's commentary here.

1.  What adjectives does Ben Stein use to describe the men and women in the U.S. military?

2.  What adjectives do you think Joel Stein would use to describe the men and women in the U.S. military?

3.  What is the tone of Ben's article?

4.  What is the tone of Joel's article?

5.  Compare some of the statements below made by the two authors.  Who makes the better argument?  Why?

Ben Stein wrote:

• The men and women of the United States military are fighting the remnants of a regime so evil that it pioneered the use of torture against children -- just for the amusement of Saddam and his family.
• The men and women whom Joel despises rid the world of a dictator so twisted and murderous that he openly admired Stalin and Hitler and sought to match their level of atrocities.
• They died to save a slave people from the genocidal control of a mad killer who thought nothing of gassing his own people, of wiping out entire regions, of setting up special rape rooms to allow his henchmen and his sons to rape women at will, who amused himself by pouring gasoline down the throats of totally innocent people and setting them on fire
• The [man or woman]... who leaves the comfort of home to fight against an evil as monstrous as what did happen and what is happening in Iraq are great warriors.

Joel Stein wrote:

• The truth is that people who pull triggers [in Iraq] are ultimately responsible, whether they're following orders or not.
• But when you volunteer for the U.S. military, you pretty much know you're not going to be fending off invasions from Mexico and Canada. So you're willingly signing up to be a fighting tool of American imperialism, for better or worse.
• ...we shouldn't be celebrating people for doing something we don't think was a good idea