Pace is off the Mark

The top U. S. military officer, Gen Peter Pace, was quoted yesterday by the Chicago Tribune as saying “"I believe that homosexual acts between individuals are immoral, and that we should not condone immoral acts. So the 'don't ask, don't tell' [policy] allows an individual to serve the country ... if we know about immoral acts, regardless of committed by who, then we have a responsibility.”

Pace was stating his opinion as the debate over the current “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy continues. The majority of Americans believe that homosexuals should be allowed to serve openly, and many retired and current military officials agree.

Two problems. First, according to many, adultery and even divorce, as described by Jesus, could be considered immoral. Pre-marital sex is also a common practice that many consider immoral. Should all divorced or sexually active applicants for the armed services be turned down? If their divorce or their extra-marital sex occurs during their service, should they be discharged? Some consider actions of "self pleasure" immoral. Soldiers, watch out.

Second, we often hear that our moral authority comes from the Ten Commandments. While homosexuality is not mentioned, killing certainly is. Is it not hypocritical for someone who makes their career based on war and killing to be making arguments based on morality? This is not the time to debate the morality of war or of this war in particular, but many religious leaders came out against this war in particular as being unjust and un-biblical. That would make the killing in this war, immoral.

According to the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (http://www.sldn.org/templates/index.html) there are over 65,000 gay and lesbian troops now serving in our armed forces. From 1993 to 2005 there were 11,092 gay and lesbian service personnel dismissed. The cost for administering this policy has been reported to be between 200 million and 364 million dollars. The lower figure comes from the GAO (http://www.gao.gov/htext/d05299.html) and the higher figure from the Center for Study of Sexual Minorities in the Military. (http://www.gaymilitary.ucsb.edu)

What a waste of taxpayer dollars, and what a waste of qualified personnel. Oh, but this administration is not concerned about taxpayer dollars (other than returning them to the richest of the rich) or qualified personnel (from the top down).