Part 4 -- Just War and Iraq -- it can be very difficult to define intangible philosophies or actions that are both part of the human psyche and that seem obvious. One of these such intangibles is war. What is war? Each historical period has added a new meaning to the word, but the essence of it still remained the same. War is always associated with terror, cruelty and unhappiness. There are really five elements that allow a just war: cause, authority, intention, hope for success, and proportionality. Without becoming too cynical, most scholars would probably agree that the first Iraqi war was "Just" but the second, under Bush II, was not. There were clear distinctions. In the first, Iraq invaded a soverign country, Kuwait, who asked for aid and protection; in the second, data was never fully disclosed as to the infamous weapons of mass destruction, and later found to be exaggerated and false, thus not allowing for most of the principles of justness; but more as an economic excuse (Coady, 2008, 58-60).
Part 5 -- the argument for the use of the second atomic bomb, against Nagasaki, is essentially a moral argument based on utilitarianism. What decision resulted in the greatest good for the greatest number? If more people would die based on prolonging the war, invading Japan, and a potential invasion from the Soviets, then the use of the second bomb did save lives. In all five tests, dropping the second bomb appeared to be just...
We must remember, we had been at war for four years with Japan; Japan had committed numerous aggressive acts and actions that were immoral even during the time of war. The Japanese military, who all intelligence believed still held the power in Japan, operated under a tradition that it was better to die with honor than to surrender. For months, the Allies had been intensely fire-bombing Japanese cities, with still no end in sight; and Japan had been warned in the Potsdam Declaration of July 26th. Hiroshima was destroyed on August 6th, after which President Truman again warned that another attack would occur, unless Japan capitulated -- they did not, and then on August 9th, Nagasaki was destroyed. Clearly, warning had been given, it was likely that Japan did not take Truman's threats seriously (Sherwin, 2003).
Coady, C. Morality and Political Violence. New York: Cambrdige University Press,
2008.
Goodman, K., ed. The Case of Terri Schiavo: Ethics, Politics, and Death in the 21st
Century. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.
"Information for Research on Euthanasia." December 2009. Euthanasia.com. .
Overview of Arguments Against Euthanasia." January 2010. BBC Ethics Guide. .
Sherwin, M. A World Destroyed. Stanford University Press, 2003.
