Just War Seems to Be an Issue

¶ … just war seems to be an issue of discussion that people are very passionate about. The excuses given for the starting of a war as well as the reasons for why a war continues to go on is something that can vary. The reason why a war begins may not persist a given amount of time later, nor may it be the same reason why it comes to an end. According to the Just War Theory (Christopher 2003), there are four tenets that should be considered most important.

First of all, a war must only be started after all other attempts of resolving an issue have failed (Christopher 2003). Discussions by the two opposing parties must be had in order for a war to even be thought of. This means that if a declaration of war is to be made, it is because it is literally the last resort to resolve the issues at hand. Secondly, a just war must only be started as a way of defense after a provocation has already been made (Christopher 2003). This brings some sort of justification to the start of a war. If the war is used as a way of defending oneself against an evil that has already been done, then it is justified to begin this war as a way of providing justice for those impacted. The third important tenet is that the other party has to be able to fight fairly (Christopher 2003). They must be given advanced notice of an attack and they should have the adequate means of protecting themselves. It would not be fair, or just, for one party to declare a war against another party that is not properly equipped to continue to fight a war with even measures. Lastly, the most important tenet of the just war theory as outlined in the reading is that no innocent person should be harmed (Christopher 2003). An individual who had no say in the occurrence of the war, nor are they in any way associated with the fighting, should be harmed as a means of fighting a war. Unarmed individuals, such as innocent civilians, should not be killed as a way for the war to continue to be won.

The aforementioned four tenets of a just war provide ethical or moral justification for the use of force because it brings an even ground on which to base the war upon. Both parties involved would each have a way of defending themselves properly, only after all other efforts have been made to avoid getting into the war in the first place. Each of these tenets provide not only circumstances that make violence an okay thing to participate in, but it allows everyone to have an equal chance at defending something that they feel strongly about.

The Iraq War has been one of great debate, on whether it was just or not. Arguments could be said for both sides of the issue, as there have been implications supporting both its cause and its continuance, as well as its unequal and overbearing persistence. To begin with, this war was started after all discussions were exasperated and there was no agreement to give up the mass weapons of destruction that Iraq had and was supposedly intending to use on the United States. But the question here is, was there enough discussion time? Could more have been done in terms of figuring out better ways to go about this issue and accusation? The Iraq war was also justly started after the threat of weapons of mass destruction were thought to be housed by Iraqi rebels. With this preemptive strike in mind, the United States did what was best for the protection of its citizens by engaging in a war to avoid destruction of its people later. However, the Iraq war was unjust in the fact that there indeed was not enough evidence to prove that these weapons of mass destruction existed, and in the end, they were never even found. An issue that seems to justify the use of violence to solve an issue is if both parties are equally equipped to fight a fair war. Both parties had equal amount of power when it came to the weapons used, and both parties knew that a war would be inevitable, however, the fact that the war was fought on foreign land gives the United States a disadvantage, but also gives a disadvantage to the Iraqis who had most of their land destroyed in this war. This actually leads to the final tenet in a just war, and that is that no innocent people are to die. To Americans, the Iraq war can seem unjust because of the number of civilians that it has killed. People who had nothing to directly do with this war, have unfortunately bared the consequences brought on by war. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqi people have lost their lives in attacks brought on by the United States, as well as their own Iraqi military.