Morally, war is a whole new ballgame.

This is my first war. When I graduated from college in 1973, the Vietnam War was almost done (and I had a high draft number). I opposed it, of course – no girls available otherwise – but as a national mistake, not a personal threat.

Likewise, Iraq.

America’s Second Civil War threatens all. Nor will a draft number save me from recruitment. All past puberty are recruited, who can walk or talk. And, make no mistake, it’s a fight to the death. For the death of freedom is the death of all.

The morality of war contradicts that of peacetime. Here’s where I differ from Jesus, whom I inordinately respect. Jesus not only perceived deeply but spoke elegantly – my kind of guy.

“Turn the other cheek” is lousy advice when guns are blazing. No mooning for a father in heaven if you’re an actual father with real progeny to protect. No stance more objectionable than conscientious objection, if it exempts you from the fray. Responsibility to others requires responsible action, which doesn’t mean bidding them farewell on their way to the gallows. You fight – with all you’ve got – to the death – for the right. However timid your nature – and mine’s very – you suck it up, salute your superior officers, and learn to shoot.

How to know what’s right? That may be the biggest difference between war and peace. War permits no ambiguity, no discussion. Of the two sides you must choose one, no equivocation or evasion – if you’re not for us you’re against us. Individuals must accede to the collective. Your partisans mightn’t be perfect, but theirs are pernicious, so enough yammering, Jack (or Jill), get cracking.

I’d have liked to discuss this with Jesus. His wasn’t wartime guidance. Subjected by a state which he had no chance of swaying, he was offering slaves an alternative to servitude, a father in heaven, who would make losers winners. It was the mind-trick of all time, ennobling, transformative, redemptive, but inapplicable to war. In war, for as long as you stand a chance of winning, you must do all you can for your side, even if it violates your principles. Because if you lose, you and yours are toast. Right in war is often wrong in peace. But you are not an individual anymore, you are part of a whole, facing elimination if you fail.

Would Jesus have bought my argument? I’d like to think I could have convinced him he was so wise and practical, but who knows. Thou shalt not kill – in peacetime; but if they’re coming after your kid with a machete, don’t wait. Murder can be just.

Pretty much every peacetime premise is turned upside down by war. Should we behave decently on the battlefield? Sure, as decently as we can, provided we do what we must. But what if we’re fighting a fiend? Is any hold barred? Was Truman right to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki? I believe he was but, oh, what a choice!

Our side, the freedom lovers, got caught flatfooted in the present crisis. We thought we were fighting by peacetime rules, while the fascists were sneering at our scruples. Truth, justice, kindness mean nothing to the Nameless One, provided he wins. As winning is the name of their game, so it must be of ours. Scant chance of goodness in a nation destroyed.

I’m no hawk, but a dove donning armor, exhorting myself to arms. This war is going to get ugly. I’m training myself to be the sort of tough guy I deplore.