A leftist I used to work with was nattering about Vietnam and how G.W. was "AWOL." You know what I told him? At least we know that George Bush wasn't over there chasing down those fleeing, wounded Vietnamese children, shooting them in the back and committing other war crimes like his war hero candidate John Kerry.
The silence was golden.
The "Nazi" Pope was AWOL as well (and locked up).
Some people will rail against some other people regardless of what they did during a war.
Don't expect the socialist-secular left to be consistent. It is about tearing someone down. The end result is all that matters.