I feel so . . . so . . . exposed.

If you want to engage in a meaningless, yet potentially incendiary, intellectual exercise, offer to lead a discussion on which of America's wars met the requirements of the Just War Doctrine. (To keep the fires from raging out of control, you should first agree to exclude the Civil War/War of Northern Aggression from the discussion.)

First you have to decide on what you mean by "America's Wars." Very few non-historians have ever heard of the Philippine-American War but seeing as how an estimated 250,000 to one million Filipino civilians died during the conflict, you can bet that Filipinos count it as an American war. (Hint: it doesn't make the "just" cut. Wars of imperial expansion never do,)

Then you have to decide how often and how severely the jus in bello requirements of the Just War Doctrine can be violated (and they will be) before it taints the just cause for the which the war was ostensibly being waged. Some people say that this can't happen; once the jus ad bellum requirements have been met, the conflict is always, in some sense, just. I say that this is porcarie on a stick.

Yours in endless controversy

Roberto

Comments

[labrialumn]

Why now, Roberto, Popes have indeed given sanction to imperial wars of expansion in the past.

It was just that that caused Clement XII not to grant Henry VIII an annulment from his marriage to his late brother's wife, because if Henry died childless, Philip V of Spain, who had Clement XII under control, would have taken England, just as William Fitz took England with Papal approval several hundred years earlier.

American War for Independence. Just.

Defensive war against the Slaver Aggression. Just. Holy. Righteous.

Various wars against colonial powers in the Western hemisphere under the Monroe doctrine. Unclear, probably varying.

Panamanian independence so that we could build a canal on Columbian soil. Unjust.

Californian Anschluss. Questionable.

Hawaiian Anschluss. Unjust.

WWI. Questionable.

The war for Byelorussian independence. Just but farcical.

WWII Just.

Korea, Just, but not justly carried out.

Vietnam. Just, not justly carried out.

Grenada. Just.

Panama. Questionable.

Afghanistan. Just, not justly carried out.

Iraq. Just. Occupation bungled. The US has never known how to engage in nation-building, and Iraq is not a country.

Only initial thoughts.

[Roberto Rivera]

Why now, labrialumn, Popes have been wrong, especially when they tried to play geopolitical kingmaker.

BTW, I'm not sure if you think denying Henry VIII an annulment was just or unjust. (The former, of course.) BTW, it Charles, not Phillip, V who had Clement under his control. Phillip's attempt to bring England to heel was frustrated by bad weather. Too bad.

[Michael Snow]

Anybody remember the comment from the former Commandant of the Marine Corps (who is also a Christian) regarding Iraq? He stated that Sadaam was "contianed." That rules out the "last resort" stipulation.

This war was designed not by just war theorists but by new world order proponents.

As Colson states today, Wolfowitz is a brilliant scholar and dedicated public servant.

But the lesson Colson teaches us about accountablility needs to go deeper. Christians need to look in the mirror for a change and ask why they are swept along by the same arrogance of power and so prone to idolatry when it comes to wars?

This seems to be a particular pitfall for us ex-marines. Or perhaps another cliche explains it better: once a Marine, always a Marine.