Rush's mission is to show the troops that it's only people who'd just as soon see them dead who are against the war.
This is the same psychologically as saying that the people who really care for the individual soldiers' wellbeing are all unreservedly in favor of the war, no matter how wantonly (and to what small effect) they may waste human lives in prosecuting the war.
And what could be better for morale than that?
Giovanni