Morality and the Military

It seems the homphobes are out in full force this month. Ann Coulter fired the first salvo when she called John Edwards a faggot before a cheering crowd of enthusiastic conservatives. Fox News then carried forth the banner of intolerance by inviting Coulter on their airwaves to educate us Americans about the benefits of open bigotry. Now, Peter Pace, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has decided to leap into the fray.

In an interview conducted with the Chicago Tribune, General Pace offered the following gem when asked to comment on the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy: "I believe that homosexual acts between individuals are immoral, and that we should not condone immoral acts."

Homosexuality is immoral, eh? I wonder if the General feels the same way about torture. I only mention it because, for some reason, it is widely practiced in the military these days, and I don't see him doing anything about it. How about kidnapping people and holding them without trial for six years? I wonder what the highest ranking officer in the United States' military feels about that one. After all, there is this little military installation ninety miles south of Florida that he might want to inspect some time. Or, maybe the General has some moral reservations about throwing away the lives of some 3,200 US servicemen and wounding another 24,000 or so for absolutely no good damn reason. If not, I'm sure he would be hesitant to waste the lives of some half million Iraqi citizens. After all, aren't all of these things immoral?

Of all the things that have transpired in the military over the last five years, why is this the only issue over which General Pace is willing to express moral outrage? Are the two lesbians having a go at it in the back of a deuce-and-a-half after lights out the greatest threat to the reputation of the United States' military? I don't think so. I think pompous, self-righteous hypocrites like General Pace pose a far greater threat to the integrity of the United States' armed services than all the homosexuals in all of the world ever could.