Conflicted

I like being American. Oh, I cannot bear the George Bush/Dick Cheney vision of America, but they really aren't what we're about. Theirs is a perversion of who we are and what we aspire to. I want my children to be safe. I want my grandchildren to grow up like I did.
But how far does that desire go?
Budweiser is currently running a spot that portrays a group of soldiers going to, or coming home from, the wars. Spontaneously, all of the others passing through the airport, or working there, erupt into applause for these heroes. There is a closeup of a little red headed girl, maybe 3 or 4 years old. I wonder if anyone will tell her the truth?
The truth is that those young Americans, or at least the real ones the people in the ad depict, are in foreign lands to kill people in that little red headed girl's name. And mine. And yours. They are also very likely to be killed or maimed physically, and are surely to be wounded emotionally and psychologically and spiritually, in the process. Certainly they'll be left with images that will disturb their sleep for the rest of their lives.
And we know, beyond a shadow of a doubt or Bill O'Reilly rant, that because human beings are not perfect, some of those young Americans have made mistakes and killed groups of Iraqis holding wedding parties, racing to hospitals to have babies, acting strangely because they were scared, and on and on. And because weapons systems don't always work as advertised, there is often "collateral damage" in their wake. That's government for "we blew up people and stuff we didn't mean to hit."
I am a person whose sacred text says that in my faith there is no difference between "Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female." That's ancient Mediterranean for "American and Iraqi, American and Afghan, American and anything else." No difference.
And that same sacred text says that my God is no respector of persons, and "we are all sinners who have fallen short of the glory of God."
I have no particular righteousness for winning the lottery and being born in this place at this time. The only reason I believe that the Taliban, bin Laden, Hamas and the rest are wrong is because I see the world through eyes trained in the view from the western world. Had I been born in the West Bank, the slums of Jerusalem, Saudi Arabia or if an errant missile had killed my children in the name of democratizing my country, I'd see things exactly as those in that part of the world do.
History is written by the winners. The only reason that George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, et al, are considered heroes is that England tired of fighting the war, Revolution to us, rebellion to them. Had George III had the desire to push the point, the great patriots would all be remembered as terrorists, executed for disturbing the peace.
By my faith, and by the reality of human history, I can't applaud any more. I can only ask that no one else kill in my name. Please, stop it!
I have family, friends, and parishoners that are all in the military services. I love and respect them all. Now, I only want them to come home safely to their families, and stop making me more important that all those other people who are children of God, made in God's own image, just like me. It's wrong. It needs to stop now.