Just War Theory: The argument my uncle used to support the war

I haven't talked to him in a while so I don't know if his views on this has changed. He told me about Thomas Aquinas and The Just War Theory prior to the invasion. He explained this was why the US was justified in going to war.

At the time I didn't know what to make of it since I knew so little about this, but after reading it tonight, it's so far off base that I can't help but laugh. You be the judge.

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Just Cause: Force may be used only to correct a grave, public evil, i.e., aggression, self defense, massive violation of the basic rights of whole populations;

Comparative Justice: While there may be rights and wrongs on all sides of a conflict, to override the presumption against the use of force the injustice suffered by one party must significantly outweigh that suffered by the other;

Legitimate Authority: Only duly constituted public authorities may use deadly force or wage war;

Right Intention: Force may be used only in a truly just cause and solely for that purpose; Correcting a suffered wrong is considered a right intention, while material gain is not.

Probability of Success: Arms may not be used in a futile cause or in a case where disproportionate measures are required to achieve success;

Proportionality: The overall destruction expected from the use of force must be outweighed by the good to be achieved.<2>
Last Resort: force may be used only after all peaceful and viable alternatives have been seriously tried and exhausted.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just_War_theory

Saddam has WMD's,Saddam can kill me/you in 45 minutes.I didn't believe
him then nor do I believe him today,may misery and hardships come to
the entire Bush Klan....

would not agree that this was a "just" war. Nope. Especially since they lied to get us into it. Going after the 19 people who supposedly caused 9-11...maybe. Iraq...NO.

And should be given the same degree respect.

------
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They were against the war.

There was some reporting on this in the press, unfortunately not enough for your uncle to have caught it.

Every religion save for some of the extremist fundies spoke out against the war.

There was actually a coalition. I recall an article in the Chicago Tribune about it.

The catholic church wanted these guidelines and my uncle has a tendency to go fundie at times which is why I can't be sure if he still holds the same stance.

Most in my family don't care for the catholic church. Baptists, you know. :shrug:

Not by a long shot.

Mostly Southern denominations, white, got hopped-up

tries to intellectualize fear and greed.

the Middle East in hopes of fulfilling the Armageddon prophesies and
starting rapture. Seems like a lot of fundies are weary of resisting
temptation in this life and want to get on to their eternal reward.

why, if Aquinas would have found this war just, the Catholic Church hierarchy, the US Bishops and the pope, came out strongly against the war. Their argument against the war was precisely that it was not a last resort and there never was a just cause--since it was never really a matter of self-defense.

I wrote two essays on this topic, one in the month just prior to the start of the war:

http://hawaii.ms11.net//Freeman3-25.htm

and one in September of 2003 which appeared on CounterPunch:

http://www.counterpunch.org/freeman09172003.html


It is really hard for me to see how anyone who seriously considered just war theory would find this one justified.

I know how it is with uncles though--one of mine said at one point after 911 (but prior to the Iraq War) that he was glad "that we finally had a president who appeared to have no dark side." Imagine that, the prince of darkness himself appeared to have no dark side. And this uncle was no wing-nut either, but a really decent person, someone whom I've respected greatly all my life. That's what will have to be explained someday--how so many decent, well intentioned people were so blinded in the rush to war.

http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0309-02.htm

Jimmy applied Aquinas' ideas better than the said uncle.

the invasion of Iraq IS NOT a "just war".

Unless your uncle knows better than the Pope, the Archbishop, bush's church leader, et al, then he's ipso facto WRONG.

Kinda fucks up uncle's "Last Resort: force may be used only after all peaceful and viable alternatives have been seriously tried and exhausted."