Conduct Unbecoming

One of the really formative experiences in my life was serving as an officer in the Marine Corps. I thought military service was an honorable profession, so much so that I urged my sons to consider military service—even though that was during the Vietnam War. But after what I have been watching the past few months, I wonder if I would urge my grandsons to serve today. One of the most disillusioning moments for me was when the New York Times ran that ad—at a discount, by the way—for MoveOn.org calling General Petraeus “General Betray Us.” This honorable West Point graduate with a distinguished military career: We do this to him? Unbelievably, a resolution in the Senate to disavow the MoveOn.org ad war was opposed by all the leading Democratic presidential candidates. Equally bad is what the Senate did to General Peter Pace. The majority leader—who, by the way, ran an elevator in the Capitol during the Vietnam War—accused this most decorated marine officer, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, of being incompetent. Senate leaders attacked Pace because he had the audacity to express his view that both adultery and homosexual behavior are morally wrong. The mainstream press has also done its share of harm to our service members. As General Ricardo Sanchez said, as described in a Wall Street Journal op-ed piece last Thursday, “What is clear to me is that you [referring to the media] are perpetrating the corrosive partisan politics that is destroying our country and killing our service members who are at war.” He lashed out at Congress for rank partisanship, undermining the confidence of the troops. The general also faulted the Bush administration for its handling of the war—which, by the way, was the only thing the New York Times reported from his speech. This is what we have come to in America: slandering our generals and undermining—even endangering—our troops. Our cultural and political leaders have forgotten, if they ever knew, that the willingness to sacrifice on behalf of others is why serving in the military is considered such a high calling—and a part of what makes just wars just. Thomas Aquinas in his classic Summa Theologica puts his discussion of just war in the chapter on charity—the love of God and neighbor. And reformer John Calvin called the soldier an “agent of God’s love” because “restraining evil out of love for neighbor is an imitation of God’s restraining evil out of love for His creatures.” We are blessed that so many fine men and women are willing to wield the sword on our behalf in this country. But are we, in turn, willing to respect and honor those sacrificing for us? And if not, can we blame them if one day they decide to lay down their arms? What kind of a world would this be if that happened? We would have a world where evil reigned unchecked by justice, and where the strong would be free to prey on the weak. The problem is not with our service members who are serving us nobly and ably in Iraq; it is the political and cultural leaders who are dishonoring them. If most Americans share their attitude, then I say bring the troops home. Why should they risk their lives for an ungrateful nation? If we want them to continue to lay down their lives to protect us, then I say it is time for the politicians and the media to get a hold of themselves and give our troops the respect, honor, and support that they deserve.  

Today's BreakPoint Offer

Read Ret. Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez’s address before the Military Reporters and Editors Luncheon, Washington, D.C., October 12, 2007.  

For Further Reading and Information

Daniel Henninger, “General Sanchez’s Scream,” Wall Street Journal, 18 October 2007, A16. David S. Cloud, “Former Top General in Iraq Faults Bush Administration,” New York Times, 12 October 2007. Daniel Baer, “Blowing the Whistle on the Iraq War,” Guardian (London), 22 October 2007. Jack Kelly, “The Press Proved Sanchez’s Point,” RealClearPolitics, 16 October 2007. See the MoveOn.org ad on General Petraeus. “Bush: MoveOn.org ad on Petraeus ‘Disgusting’,” CNN, 18 September 2007. Pete Hegseth, “MoveOn.org Calls Petraeus a Traitor,” Weekly Standard, 9 September 2007. Perry Bacon, Jr., “MoveOn Unmoved by Furor over Ad Targeting Petraeus,” Washington Post, 21 September 2007, A01. “NYT Regrets MoveOn.org Ad on Petraeus,” AFP, 24 September 2007. BreakPoint Commentary No. 070628, “Killing a Career: The Shame of the U.S. Senate.” BreakPoint Commentary No. 040531, “A Soldier’s Valor: Helping and Healing in Iraq.” BreakPoint Commentary No. 020306, “Loving Your Neighbor: Just War and Charity.” Gina Dalfonzo, “Living with Sacrifice,” The Point, 24 September 2007. Anne Morse, “Support the Troops: Buy Chocolate,” The Point, 21 September 2007. Allen Thornburgh, “Just War (Jus in Bello) Is Really Hard . . . ,” The Point, 29 August 2007. Gina Dalfonzo, “Turning against Our Bravest 1 Percent,” The Point, 23 July 2007.

10/23/07