“Peace and stability themselves are the fruit of justice. For this reason, peace is incompatible with a tolerance of evil.” – J. Daryl Charles
On February 28 of this year, the military forces of the United States and Israel attacked the Islamic Republic of Iran. In a coordinated effort, the military of both countries targeted the nuclear, military and leadership facilities of Iran. In the first hours of the attacks of the joint operations, the top leadership of Iran was eliminated. As of this writing seven Americans have died and several were wounded in a retaliation attacks.
Once our joint military actions were announced by President Trump, Democrats and the left leaning media started ranting that this was not the right time to wage war on Iran. One wonders when the right time would be, since they declared war on the US 47 years ago. Thousands of American and Israeli military and civilians have been killed by the Iranians or their surrogates. They refused to give up their attempts to manufacture nuclear weapons and produce intercontinental missals capable of hitting our country. The Iranians have not negotiated with us in good faith.
The question that begs to be answered: Is this a “Just War”? Both the religious and secular ethical elements for a just war are similar. For the sake of brevity the components for a just war are summarized below.
For a war to be considered “just”, it must have a valid, legitimate reason such as self defense or the protection of innocent lives. In addition to having a legitimate reason for going to war, the intention of the warring country must be proper. For instance, the intention for the war should be for self defense, to protect innocent lives, to restore peace, and not for the purpose of conquest, gaining treasure, or vengeance.
A just war can only be declared as a last result, after all diplomatic, economic and other forms of negotiation have been exhausted.
A just war should have a reasonable probability of success.
The military force used in a just war must discriminate between combatants and civilians.
The harm done in a just war must not out weigh the benefits expected.
By any reasonable interpretation of just war ethics, the current war we and the Israelis are conducting against Iran is a just war. The Democrats have shown that they are far from reasonable on a host of issues from the sexual transition of minors, to allowing everyone to vote, even the dead. They are consistent, though, in that whatever President Trump does or proposes, they oppose. Therefore, they will abandon all logic, and come up with countless, spurious arguments to oppose this Just War.
It is not possible to disavow war absolutely without disavowing the task of establishing justice.” –Reinhold Niebuhr
