A Vote of "No Confidence" in our troops - it's a big mistake.

Last week was crucial week in our nation's capitol as shown by the heated debate that took place on Capitol Hill. The subject of the debate was one of the key issues of our time: Iraq, one of the key fronts in the GWOT. To be more specific, the debate was concerning the troop surge that President Bush has put forth as the new direction in the war in Iraq. The focal point of this debate was a non-binding resolution that condemned the troop surge.

One thing must be made clear at this point, a non-binding resolution does nothing. It is called a non-binding resolution because it is not bound by anything, as a result of it's passing, nothing will change and nothing new will go into effect.

The debate was a heated one, a debate that did little, a debate where no persuasion went on, but people's opinion were heard. Many within Congress has opposed this surge and the war for quite some time. Some have been opposed to all of it from the very beginning, others supported it in the beginning but are now against it, while even others have supported it from the beginning. The only true positive was that there was a platform for those in Congress that do support the troops, to say so, publicly.

Personally, I believe that if you say that you support our military then you must support the mission that they are risking their lives for. If you do not support the war, if you think it is morally incorrect, then you are morally bound to do so - even if I am going to disagree with you. The rub comes when those that say that the war is morally wrong draft, debate, vote on, and pass a piece of legislation that was impotent and in actionable from the start, doing nothing and accomplishing no real action. This, in fact is what was passed last Friday.

So, if no real action can be taken as a result of this passed legislation, has it done anything? Yes and No. No it hasn't put a stop to the war in Iraq, but it has told our troops that a majority of Congress has no confidence in their ability to complete the mission - something that should never have happened in the first place. Thankfully there were a number of individuals who do support the troops who spoke out loud and clear. They spoke out about the importance of the mission that our Armed Forces is engaged in, why it must be fought and won.

As an American, I believe that we all have a moral and patriotic responsibility to support our men and women in uniform. Why? The have volunteered to do what they are doing; they made the free will choice to serve. They serve, fighting and protecting us all, making sure that the conflict stays where it is and doesn't come to our shores again. We owe them our support, and our confidence; this resolution does not do that, thus it's a mistake.

Doth Justice be too hard a thing?

Justice. Think about it, let it roll over in your mind for a moment. What comes to mind? If you're me, it's the Justice Leauge of America (JLA) right away.

Consider the following for a moment...

1. The quality of being just; righteousness, equitableness, or moral rightness: to uphold the justice of a cause.

2. Rightfulness or lawfulness, as of a claim or title; justness of ground or reason: to complain with justice.

3. The moral principle determining just conduct.

4. Conformity to this principle, as manifested in conduct; just conduct, dealing, or treatment.

5. The administering of deserved punishment or reward.

Do these come to mind? Or when someone says Justice today, does one get this idea of "Social Justice" - the righting of social wrongs? Now I am not saying this is a bad thing, but wiser minds than I have said that "stealing from one person is the work of a thief, while stealing from many is social justice".

I'm not here to talk about Social Justice, I'm talking about Justice that has to do with the righting of wrongs done by concrete evil, by people who are evil and depraved, like Saddam, Hitler, Kim Jong Il, UBL, Hugo Chavez, or Amadinejhad. Justice where you know something is wrong and it must be fixed, that evil is at work and that evil needs a good vanquishing.

Do we talk about this in Christian circles anymore? (Outside of the Military that is...) Nope. We talk about Faith, Hope, Love, Mercy, Unity, ect. Not that these are not important, they are, but certian concepts are forsaken today because they are hard, and the world doesn't like them. They force us to confront the inate sinfulness and depravity of man, for he is NOT good in and of himself, contrary to what David Sanger and Benjamin Creme would have someone believe (no, you aren't God, and Bruce Almighty checked out a long time ago...).

I think the Military has a good handle on this, better than anyone else, and even then, that solid foundation for the confronting and vanquishing of what is evil may be diminishing, as the god of Political Correctness is paid homage, creating a void of blackness that still needs something to fill it...which is increasingly difficult when the gods of tolerence won't let God enter the picture for these troops to rely on, barring Chaplins from doing what they want to do, to walk through the valley of the Shadow of Death with their men, their comrades.

Maybe all of this is because my brother is about to join the brotherhood that is the United States Air Force, as he begins his training in just over 24 hours, or maybe this is me stating a position on the eve of the political war that is going to break out when the Democratic majority attempts to stop the efforts of the President to go forward with the extra troops, attempting to strip the military of funding to use to fight the central front on the War on Terror - thus leaving my brother and his fellow Airman unable to defend our freedom.

I find myself convinced more and more that a central front to the War on Terror is the home front...and there needs to be good people to fight that battle too.