Just War Theory

[hermeneutika]

As a observer of the "Christian" institutions (The Church) I was wondering when the doctrine of "Just War" would finally arrive. Of course if noone is concerned with the concept of a Just War, then i guess indiscrimate killing and maiming is good for business and fun?
Why does the Christian Church have such a strong relationship with the military? Someone once said that if one lives by the sword then one will die by it..
If perhaps the question of Just War had been raised prior to the invasion of Iraq then perhaps we would not be in the current situation. Given the fact that the war in Iraq was fought for no good reason whatsoever....I wonder what the Lord God Almighty thinks of the indisciminate killing and maiming of perhaps hundreds of thousands of people, for no good reason.
Either the government was wrong about Iraq or they lied. And the Amerikan government was also just plain wrong.

[Kendall K. Down]

On 15/11/2021 15:21, hermeneutika wrote:
> As a observer of the "Christian" institutions (The Church) I was wondering when the doctrine of "Just War" would finally arrive.

Discussion of Just War has been going on since goodness knows when. It
is not a new arrival.

> If perhaps the question of Just War had been raised prior to the invasion of Iraq then perhaps we would not be in the current situation.

Of course the argument advanced by Blair et al was that war against
Saddam was just - he had weapons of mass destruction, he was oppressing
his people, his sons were allowed to run riot and do what they pleased.

I still think that removing Saddam was justified, even though the WMD
did not materialise. He was a thoroughly nasty piece of work. The big
mistake was in the occupation of Iraq: 1) attempting to make an Arab and
Muslim country into a democracy just will not work; 2) rigid
implementation of de-Baathification, which made no distinction between
those who were ardent Baathists and those who had merely gone along with
it because you didn't get a job unless you at least pretended; 3) crass
emphasis on oil to the exception of all the other things a country needs.

No doubt other factors could be identified, but I think those were the
main ones.

God bless,
Kendall K. Down

[steve hague]

IIRC, the main reason was the WMD, which nearly everyone, including the
LibDems believed he had, after all, the world had seen him use them on
his own people. The only argument was whether that justified going to war.
Steve Hague

[Charles Lindsey]

On 15/11/2021 15:21, hermeneutika wrote:

> If perhaps the question of Just War had been raised prior to the invasion of Iraq then perhaps we would not be in the current situation. Given the fact that the war in Iraq was fought for no good reason whatsoever....I wonder what the Lord God Almighty thinks of the indisciminate killing and maiming of perhaps hundreds of thousands of people, for no good reason.

In the first Iraq war (after it had invaded Kuwait), the first President Bush
was trying to follow the idealS of a "just war" which was why, when the Iraqis
has been driven out of Kuwait, he held back from pursuing them all the way back
to Baghdad; which with hindsight that was a mistake because it enabled Saddam to
continue to oppress the southern Shia Muslims whereas it might well have
resulted in a more stable Iraq than we have at present.

The 2nd Iraq war was a shambles because the WMDs did not exist, and the scant
evidence for them was overplayed.

--
Charles H. Lindsey ---------At my New Home, still doing my own thing------
Tel: +44 161 488 1845 Web: https://www.clerew.man.ac.uk
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[Kendall K. Down]

On 16/11/2021 05:40, steve hague wrote:

> IIRC, the main reason was the WMD, which nearly everyone, including the
> LibDems believed he had, after all, the world had seen him use them on
> his own people. The only argument was whether that justified going to war.

Yes, the idea of WMDs was certainly plausible. I suspect that the
Israelis were behind the whole thing as Saddam had previously fired Scud
missiles at them with the threat that they would contain poison gas,
similar to that used against the Kurds.

Add in Saddam's posturing and his refusal to allow inspections and war
was almost inevitable.

[Kendall K. Down]

On 16/11/2021 11:57, Charles Lindsey wrote:

> The 2nd Iraq war was a shambles because the WMDs did not exist, and the
> scant evidence for them was overplayed.

I agree with all you say. However don't forget the Kurds who were
poisoned by Saddam. He had used WMDs against his own people and it was
not implausible to think that he might use them against others.