It’s a first. Al-Reuters notices Little Green Footballs, in their defense of the LA Times columnist who admitted he doesn’t support US troops: L.A. Times writer defends incendiary Iraq column.

LOS ANGELES, Jan 24 (Reuters) - A Los Angeles Times columnist who infuriated conservatives by writing that he does not support American troops fighting in Iraq — and calling those who do “wusses” — stood by the article on Tuesday.

Joel Stein said he has been “bombarded” by hate mail over the incendiary article — which was headlined “Warriors and Wusses” and held that U.S. soldiers in Iraq were “ignoring their morality” — but does not regret writing it and stands by the premise.

“I don’t support what they are doing, and I don’t the see point of putting a big yellow magnet on your car if you don’t,” Stein told Reuters in an interview. “I don’t think (soldiers) are necessarily bad people. I do plenty of things that are wrong too. But I don’t agree with what they are doing so I don’t see the logic of supporting it.”

The article, which ran on the Times opinion page on Tuesday, was quickly linked on conservative sites across the Internet, where readers poured scorn on Stein, on the newspaper and on liberals in general.

“If I ever run into the a**hole, I’m going to knock his frickin’ block off,” one man wrote on the Little Green Footballs (www.littlegreenfootballs.com) Web site, one of nearly 500 people who had commented on the article by mid-afternoon.

Conservative columnist Michelle Malkin quickly nominated Stein as “one of the most loathsome people in America.” The Irish Pennants (www.irishpennants.com) site slammed him as “slime” but gave credit for honesty, adding: “At least he is straightforward slime.”

A Times spokesman said he could not immediately determine how many complaints the newspaper had received or if any readers had canceled subscriptions. Stein said that, despite the fact that his e-mail address was not made public by the paper, he had received some 100 “hate e-mails” by noon.