"Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God"

This isn't a peaceful world we live in.

There are too many people who are a few fries short of a happy meal that will have no qualms about killing you where you stand.

As for some specifics:

1) Pakistan - Dodd was wrong to say that we shouldn't go into Pakistan if we think we can get Bin Laden. The US has been doing this very thing:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/03/27/ST2008032700935.html

Obama's position was right and if McCain's going to criticize it, he's criticizing what our military has been doing over there.

2) "Experience" - We saw where McCain's years in the Senate got us. He supported an unjustified war in Iraq, he failed to push for adequate troop levels or support going into Iraq and it was only after things had clearly gone off track that McCain started pushing for more troops.

you really think independents and hillary backers will be persuaded by mccain's camp rattling sabers over georgia?

lol...newsflash: biden was IN georgia a couple of weeks ago! get real.

Joshua, the successor to Moses and at least a partial messianic model, led the Israelites on a seven-year war to conquer Canaan for God's people.  Joshua 5:13 - 6:5 records the delivery of his mission orders by none other than Jesus himself.  (Yup, that's a pre-incarnate Christophany on the plains east of Jericho.)  King David - the standard by which all later kings in Jerusalem were measured and whom God granted the honor of founding the messianic dynasty - was rightly respected as a warrior.  1 and 2 Samuel are loaded with accounts of David's battlefield victories.  Later Davidic kings, who were acclaimed as being faithful to the Lord, are also known for battlefield success (read Kings and Chronicles).

Twice - near the beginning and near the end of his three-year earthly ministry - Jesus cleared the temple in Jerusalem using anything but peaceful means.  During what the Christian church has come to call Holy Week, he spoke to his disciples about wars, rumors of wars, and revolutions (read Matthew 24 and Luke 21).  Revelation paints a pretty ugly picture of the final conflict; and note that Jesus is personally commanding the heavenly army.

Throughout the Gospels and Acts are recorded the activities of Centurions (Roman field officers) who are commended for their faithfulness to The Way.  At no point does Jesus or anyone else direct them to cease and desist their profession.  Rather, they are to continue to serve in their capacity with a new understanding of their priorities.

The Quakers and The Mennonites, known for their pacifistic leanings, still served in the United States Armed Forces during World War Two as field medics.  I am aware of no record of anyone calling either their faith or their willingness to serve as warriors - albeit in name only - into question.

I am myself a member of the United States Navy Fleet Reserve, subject to recall at any time with no more advance notice than a phone call.  Believe you me, I will gladly pick up the sword again to "support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic" if asked to do so . . . without so much as a second thought.  The United States of America is, in spite of all her failings, the greatest nation that the Lord has seen fit to bless this world with, and I will defend her right to exist as a sovereign nation - with the last drop of my blood and my dying breath.

Note also that my elder son and my only daughter are considering the United States Marine Corps as a career choice . . . and I'm encouraging them.

I am also a practicing Confessional Lutheran Christian (WELS if you want specifics), and therefore I also absolutely know that I have a reserved room in the mansions of Heaven.  That claim is carved in the wood of Calvary's cross and signed with the blood of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who paid once for all the price for my admission.

The two, Warrior and Christian, are neither incompatible nor mutually exclusive.

Yes, Jesus is rightly called the Prince of Peace.  But the peace he provides is not peace as we pathetic humans understand it.  Rather, it is a peace beyond all human capacity to understand.

Don't get me wrong... I've got strongly held opinions on both (Kevin and Lib both make important points though I think KRH is closer to the mark) but this isn't the place.  

KRH, Lib, either of you want to start a blog to talk about Just War or the application of Christian principles in a violent world via the last remaining super power I'll be happy to post a link and direct people to the discussion.