All Hail Lord Rove!

Sorry about that, but as a Conservative Anti-Abortion Culture Warrior, I count Karl Rove among my leaders. If I don't offer him my obesiance, he'll stop sending me my marching orders, and I won't know what to say or think any more.

Sometimes I worry that people actually take the mainstream media seriously. Marilyn had the TV news on the other day (NBC, I think) when they started throwing the tired old "quagmire" label around in reference to Iraq, interspersed with lots of juicy combat footage. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that what the Democrats have been calling Iraq since the third day of our presence there? If I didn't know better, I'd think that the Democrats wanted us to lose. They've voiced everything from ridiculous claims about our treatment of suspected terrorists to urging a "cut and run" strategy without any apparent concern for the fate of democratic Iraq.

The media certainly seems to. They can't be bothered to cover any of the progress that is taking place in Iraq, or give the public any indication that anything happens over there aside from our soldiers being blown up. Is it for lack of credible sources? That doesn't seem to be a problem when mere claims, assertions, and forgeries support their biases. I don't think it's because there's nothing good to report - the media isn't exactly known for presenting both sides of every matter they report on.

While war is something I would dearly love to see vanish from the world, I simply don't think it's realistic or wise to lay down our arms as a nation and file petitions in order to achieve peace. Evil does exist, and one manifestation of it is tyrannical dictatorships where human rights are routinely abused. I think we as a nation do have a responsibility to help make the world a better place, and bringing these dictators and terrorists to justice is one very important way in which we can do that. After reading a fair amount of first-hand accounts of our war efforts in Iraq, I feel very positive about how we're conducting ourselves abroad, and optimistic about the outcome of our efforts in Iraq, if we can stay the course. A lot of that will depend upon public opinion, which is why I'm concerned about the mainstream media.

I've had many thoughts and concerns as relating to the Biblical stance on war. Recently at work, I skimmed through a copy of God's Politics by Jim Wallis. Aside from taking the position that God is, in fact, a Democrat, Wallis spends some time denouncing warfare, but as far as I saw, didn't provide very convincing support for his arguments. What Scripture he does quote are those statements that apply to individual behavior. I can appreciate some of his concerns, but I don't know that all of Jesus's commands to individuals apply equally to governments. Warfare, in itself, cannot be sinful: God commanded the Israelites to go to war against other nations, and these nations were guilty of idol worship and truly vile practices like religious prostitution and child sacrifice. While we can't claim God's sanction on our military operations, we do conduct ourselves according to just principles, and the terrorists we oppose have vile practices equal to those of the Israelites' foes.

I plan to do some research on this topic as it's been approached historically by the Church, specifically on the idea of "Just War"; I read a summary some time ago, but I'd like to read the source material, so I can be clear. While the Church has a less than sterling record on warfare, it's the theories that I want to read and consider. I think it's fair to trust that wiser men than I have considered the problem. In the end, I want to have a Godly perspective on the matter.

At this point in time, based on our military forces' conduct, I feel pretty good about Our Side.

By the way, if you haven't heard about Gitmo, James Lileks has thoughtfully provided all the answers to any questions you might have about it. Share and enjoy!