A Just War
In Just a Thought, December 23rd, 2009
What have you heard of President Obama’s Nobel Prize acceptance speech?
I have been critical of this Administration, but fairness compels me to say that the President’s speech was very good on the issue of the use of military force,and certainly was not what the international peacenik community expected.
He defined a just war as having four qualities: it is the last resort, it must be self defensive in nature proportional force should be used, and civilians’ casualties should be minimized.
He said, “No matter how justified, war promises human tragedy.”
I agree with two exceptions. A proportional response always puts more of your own soldiers at risk than necessary, overwhelming force will ensure victory and minimize our casualties.
War does produce human tragedy, but a just war ensures that the tragedy is more limited than what would result from any other approach to the problem.
Thus, Truman was just in his approach to ending WWII.
