En Guard

I have a question for conservatives who support both the Iraq War and banning gay marriage. Can you produce one instance of a gay marriage actually undermining the sanctity of a heterosexual marriage, or causing the divorce of a straight couple? And if I could produce evidence that the Iraq War is detrimental to marriage, would you support a Constitutional amendment immediately requiring the withdrawal of our troops from Iraq and banning future preemptive wars the same way you support a Constitutional amendment banning gay marriage? Because I can:

The number of active-duty soldiers getting divorced has been rising sharply with deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq.

The trend is severest among officers. Last year, 3,325 Army officers' marriages ended in divorce — up 78% from 2003, the year of the Iraq invasion, and more than 3 1/2 times the number in 2000, before the Afghan operation, Army figures show. For enlisted personnel, the 7,152 divorces last year were 28% more than in 2003 and up 53% from 2000. During that time, the number of soldiers has changed little.

See, I know the whole “culture of life” thing is nonsense, because you refuse to support stem cell research, which could save lives, but do support a bloody and unnecessary conflict in Iraq which will inevitably continue to take lives, and the whole abortion thing isn’t about saving embryos nearly as much as it is about controlling women. And I’m fairly certain (ahem) that your whole “protecting the sanctity of marriage and defending the family” thing is nonsense, too—just another disingenuous attempt to mask bigotry with religion. But maybe you could convince me about the veracity of your claims that your primary concern is the protection of marriage and defense of families, if you immediately denounce the Iraq conflict, since it’s hurting families hell and gone more than gay marriage ever possibly could.

Iraqi families, too, by the way, in case you’d forgotten about them.