Tuesday.....International.....Righteous Decisions

         It isn't the decision to increase troop strength in Afghanistan that concerns me. In a military sense, it is needed. There were roughly 500,000 American troops in Vietnam at it's height. This in an area of 173,000 square miles. The increase in Afghanistan will bring the troop level to about 100,000 in and area almost 50% larger. My concern is in the area of seeking God's guidance in these decisions.
          In both Korea and Vietnam, our ultimate purpose was stopping murderous and bloodthirsty Communism. One can debate the strategies and tactics used in entering those conflicts but our intent was in stopping a Communist surge throughout the world. We can disagree on President Bush's wisdom in moving to Iraq after Afghanistan but we know that he was after any nation that in any way supported the terrorist organizations that attacked us and continued to plan our destruction. Throughout the war in Iraq, the Left unmercifully attacked the administration. This motivated, encouraged and strengthened those fighting our soldiers. This was bad enough but our current president ran a victorious campaign on not pursuing these war strategies. This delayed decision by the president on Afghanistan troop strength dealt with both the question of succeeding in Afghanistan and at the same time appeasing the left that put him in office. Thus we have a timeline that is essentially a short-time calendar on the walls of the caves in Afghanistan.
          Ultimately, the war effort continues but the righteous intentions, in the decision making are questionable. It is said that the United States lost the Vietnam War, and indeed we did lose, but not on the battlefield. We lost on the television. With Pakistan unstable and Iran nearing some sort of nuclear weapon that they could either use or sell, my concern, more than ever before, is the safety of the military force on the field. America previously sought God's protective hand upon entering into war. George Bush, I and II, certainly did this.
         President Obama mentioned in his speech tonight that this was a just cause and indeed it is but the text of the speech handed out beforehand ended with the words God bless our troops, in between God bless you and God bless the United States of America. Surely it was just a slip after a difficult speech but God bless our troops was omitted. Insignificant, but in my mind, with the concerns that I have, it does not help. We enter into wars where, although our enemies are wantonly violent and the perpetrators of crimes that lead to these wars, our own sin in this world is not insignificant, thus we plead God's mercy. We need to seek that mercy now more than ever before.