General Immorality

Marine General Peter Pace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in a newspaper interview on Monday that homosexual acts between adults are immoral, and the military should not condone it by allowing gays to serve openly in the armed forces. He said that "I do not believe the United States is well served by a policy that says it is OK to be immoral in any way." OK great, immorality is bad, and it should not be condoned by this country. But what is immorality? It is obviously the opposite of morality, and according to Merriam Webster the definition of morality includes "conforming to a standard of right behavior".

So morality is conformance to a standard of right behavior. Great. Now, lets take Gen. Pace’s logic a little further. He says that the U.S. is not served by a policy that says it is OK to be immoral "in any way." OK, great again. But would he apply this standard to war? War represents a complete breakdown of civility. With it come the death of both combatants and innocents and barbarity on a widespread scale. Because of this, many people feel that a war fought by a country, not to defend itself against an aggressor nation or one that is imminently ready to attack, but for other reasons, is immoral. Shouldn’t it then be the policy of the U.S. not to engage in a immoral war?

I submit that to attack a country that never attacked you on the basis of lies is immoral. I submit that a war fought not for reasons of national self defense but for reasons of profit and to maintain the flow of a commodity (i.e. oil) is immoral. I submit that a war fought against a country with a vastly inferior army to show who is the toughest badass on the block is immoral.

I submit, therefore, that the Iraq war is immoral.

So I would ask the good General to apply his own standards to this war. The Iraq war is immoral. This country should not countenance, let alone start and engage in, an immoral war. So, General, stop worrying about conduct engaged in by consenting adults that harms no one. Worry about the immoral conduct of your country that is harming tens of thousands.

- Jeff Bloomfield