Below was a response in an ongoing conversation about the war in Iraq, among faithful Catholics. My friend inquired of me, "Which of your friends children would you sacrifice...."

Mark, Thanks for your thoughtful response. Admittedly I’m not interested in a legalist approach, nor in so naming it as such do I intend to reduce it. As citizens we must subscribe to good law as a participation in Divine Law (St. Thomas).  However, a review of history reveals many such departures… reading David Donald’s Lincoln – an entire suspension of the Writ, or perhaps in a Constitutional vein, the judicial activism that gave us Roe v. Wade – grounding it in a footnote-reference to a penumbra.  Does such a history set a hard precedent for a whimsical departure from established laws (and solid interpretation thereof!)? No— I hope we can agree when these occur, there ought to be legitimate reason and a general basis of popular support. The President had both of these.  

On to your paragraphs I quote below, inviting me to “name which of those childrens lives you would tell this person—to his face—you consider worth sacrificing….”  My frank answer would be, any of them… including my own children, including my own life.  I do not glibly awaken every morning to the God-given freedom and opportunity without an awareness that it was purchased at a price, a price which I did not deserve, merit or earn by virtue of my geography, ethnicity or profession, a price that is accorded by virtue of my God-given value, a price I did not pay, but for which as a beneficiary I must give an accounting where it concerns similar lives. In short, a certain Manifest Destiny, without which I have no claim to the objectivity and universality of the freedom I enjoy. In short, it is a right for all of humanity, and any effort to accomplish this is, by definition, noble, and yes, worthy of sacrifice.       

Peal back the layers and what I have essentially articulated above is the heart of the military.  It is not simply a right for us to selfishly preserve this great trust for ourselves, but insofar as we regard it as a universal law, and recognized that we have been so endowed, it is a responsibility incumbent upon each of us. As such, we (currently) have an all-voluntary military.  Particularly in the shadow of 9-11, from which came numerous enlistments, all entered with the knowledge that the ultimate sacrifice might be asked.  

Legalists who do not get the political landscape of history, who have a very solipsistic understanding of our God-given system where it concerns human rights, will reduce the entire project to generally two questions: Is it connected to 9-11? Is there a WMD link? To do so without understanding the historically bigger question, and bigger purpose, is tantamount to not seeking treatment for the aforementioned heroin addict because of some (lesser) reason that was later proved illegitimate.  The truth is, and I believe will be proved— that the genesis of our current involvement in Iraq was of strategic, geo-political interest, in light of which President Bush found, at the right moment, sufficient political currency.  This is not to suggest that the reasons offered were somehow capricious—indeed, a flagrant snubbing of numerous UN resolutions, coupled with a resolve by a madman-dictator to mass-destroy his people (evidence enough of WMD!), coupled with the fact that the activity in the area does hold much sway over the aforementioned values we hold (our national self-interest and our values do not exist in a bubble!)--- he was given opportunity, and with evidence and popular support, took it. 

We are not teaching our kids to succeed for themselves.  They are beneficiaries of something they did not create.  And if in the course of human events, a cause holds hope for others to receive the same blessing that they have enjoyed, to the point of giving their lives, and they see this as such, I for one would be overwhelmed by a sense that we succeeded in the ultimate sense of our purpose in this fleeting life.  If you were to ask any of them the question, “What is Dad and Mom’s job,” the nine year old down to the two year old—they would say, “To get us to heaven.”  My faith informs me that heaven is paved by love, for which there is nothing greater than to lay down one’s life.  While others may have different understandings and purposes where it concerns the Iraq question, I would ask if you would be able to look an Iraqi-American, who escaped the Hussein regime alive, who has lost numerous family and friends… if you could look them in the eye and tell them that the American deaths over there are for nothing. 

«My friend inquired of me, "Which of your friends children would you sacrifice?"....»

It is not up to me to "sacrifice" anyone.  (I take "children" to mean someone's offspring which offspring has reached the age of majority.  The question might as well be: "Which of your friend's family members would you sacrifice?"  In any case the answer is the same.)

Why wouldn't you? you should ask.

Thanks for asking.

The reason I would not sacrifice anyone is, is that it is not my place to push someone to hazard their life.  Fortunately, now with the all-volunteer force, the soldiers at risk knew they weren't signing up to help octogenarians clean the shuffleboard court.

I own as many of them are feeling that they are getting somewhat more excitement than they bargained for.

However, they made their choices.

In other words, the question as stated imputes an intent on the part of the person to whom it is directed to usurp some element of individual liberty.  It is in effect an attempt to change the terms of the argument.

As such it should be rejected as not contributing to the real question.

The real question could be anything.  Thus, I will not try to anticipate it and wander off in a direction of my own imagining.

Regards,

Old Sigma (Cradle Catholic [Latin rite] & generally inveterate amateur)

Fascinating.

I wonder just who would some of us be willing to sacrifice for?

Christians? Europeans? Africans? Asians?

Thank God we have men and women who get it.  They understand, as Gschleuter put it so well, that the universal freedoms protected by the US Constitution are guaranteed only so far as free men and women are willing to fight to defend them.

What are you willing to die for? How about what you are willing to live for.

Last time I checked, death rate is 100%. And if laying down one's life for what one believes to be the God-given truths aren't worth fighting for, let's just give up.  Which way is Mecca, anyway?

Jesus didn't say it would be easy; He only said it would be worth it.

I'm sorry -- my bad.  Must've read it wrong.

I didn't realize the question was about offering minor children as a sacrifice.

Quite hypothetical. I know of no instance in the US Army where a parent offers their minor son or daughter up to go into combat.

And, of course, once they are adults, they are no longer children and so it is not the parent, but the now-adult, who makes the decision to make the sacrifice.

The US Army only takes adults as soldiers. 

It's unusual, but one can be seventeen with parental permission to volunteer.  But with delayed entry, then completion of basic training and then advanced specialty training before being assigned into a unit, and then unit train-up prior to a deployment, our soldiers in combat are over the age of majority.

Gschlueter,

Would I sacrifice - or would I support - okay, got it. That's how I initially read your original post. 

"You don't understand," we say. "We don't have to fight. We can opt for a reasonable decision, that gives priority to building a consensus and developing plans and organization so we can avoid conflict, promote material prosperity, and safeguard our personal safety."

Chesterton wrote the true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.

It still goes to the core question of our faith, does it not? In the world's eyes, and our own way of seeing things, is there "honor and nobility" in the Savior of the world?  I mean, is Jesus, who remained without worldy power and died in humiliation in a public spectacle of torture and death as a common criminal really the Son of the living God? 

Why did Jesus come into the world? To sacrifice His life for those who did not deserve it.

As the Holy Father pointed out in his recent book, Jesus proclaimed that losing oneself is the way to life. And throughout His earthly life, and ever since, including today, we all repeatedly tell Jesus that His message leads to conflict with the prevailing opinions, so there is always a looming threat of failure, suffering , and persecution.

I can't avoid the obvious similarity to The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

So what if al Qaeda has vowed to build an orc army in Iraq.  So what if Iran gets the One Ring. What has that to do with the Dow Jones average and my mortage rate here in the Shire?

I guess what you are really asking is if THIS war is really about wanting the best for Iraq and the region, or has it all been about oil, a crusade against Islam, a petty revenge against Saddam Hussein, a scheme to make money for Haliburton? 

Has it all been for nothing? 

If not, can we at this point make it so that it will all have been for nothing?

The question is rhetoric and pointless. No one chooses for another if they are of age, we all make our own choice, even if that is to choose to follow what someone else tells us to do. The answer is, I wouldn't choose any of them to die, but if any of them chose to serve, I would fully support them and their family.

A few weeks before leaving for Iraq, my soldiers and I were discussing what to expect, and one of them said the worst thing that could happen would be if he came home and we didn't. That is a concept that we understood completely and too many others can't fathom.

Last summer I saw a car in the parking lot at the store with a bumper sticker from "For the Fallen", a local group of families that have lost a family member in the war. As the driver approached her car, all I could say to her was that I was sorry for her loss and honored by her son's service. If I had to say anymore I think I would have thrown up from the guilt of not being there to help him. There are others still that I don't think would have understood that emotion.

We already have a military class, it's just not an obvious one. The funny thing is, they fear death, disagree with political decisions, argue liberal and conservative viewpoints, and all the other things non-military types do. The difference is, they can put all this aside when it comes to doing for others, instead of rationalizing why they can't do something.

That is the biggest disconnect in our country and one that I fear will not be fixed unless there is a deadly and ongoing threat to our nation on it's own soil.