The (In)justifications of War
War is a time of chaotic violence which ironically wields to certain rules, or ethics, so it could be better classified as a “just” or humane resort towards a resolution. It is true that one must consider if it would be “just” to start a war over a matter of subject such as ethnic cleansing and development of atomic weapons, but it is also critical for us as human beings to procure alternate options to resolve a conflict. When the first strike on major U.S. soil was made on September 11, 2001, President Bush utilized the newfound fear upon the Americans by almost immediately declaring a never-ending war against terrorism. He did not consider whether or not the U.S. should wage war or if it was just—he just reacted. The FBI was actually warned beforehand of a group of terrorists that hijacked airplanes plotting to attack the U.S. Bush “unleashed the dogs of war” to make up for his misjudgment and no intention of not waging war. He was not thinking critically and justifying the war through logic, but rather through emotion to sacrifice some of our rights and tax money on a never-ending war—the War on Terror.
The new president, Barack Obama, has a different approach. He considers alternate options of compromise, but they prove to be inefficient towards a resolution. The fact that the alternate options are inefficient does not justify the means of war tactics just as sending in drones. World War II, for example, was a just war for the Americans as the Germans planned to invoke a war from Mexico and were causing mass genocide within the Jews. Although the war itself may have been considered as just, actions such as that of the atomic bombs on Japan were unjust as they were not last resort and it resulted in many civilian casualties as “collateral damage”. The retribution at the end of the war is the most important to consider for when those who established the first Treaty of Versailles did not think proactively about reconciliation unlike U.S. President Wilson Woodrow--it left tension within Germany which may have invoked the Second World War. Understanding the rhetoric of war is essential in preventing any further tension escalating to war any time soon.
The legendary war within The Iliad, the Trojan War, could be considered as unjust war as it only affected the one in power, Menelaus. The war resulted in a decade of fighting over the ownership of just one woman, Helen, the king of Achea's wife. Within that span of time of war, there has been specific tensions that have caused there the characters to make certain justifications. Agamemnon justified that if he was to give up his prized woman that he should take Achilles' as compensation. This angered Achilles, but decided it was best just to do what he asked, however, he removed himself from battle as he saw this as disrespect and chose to no longer fight for him. However, when the death of his brother-in-arms Patroclus was upon him he sought to avenge him He ended up killing the admirable Prince Hector, but also decided to disrespect his lifeless corpse by dragging it behind his chariot. This was even seen as unjust by the gods, but it was Hector's father, King Priam, to leave the body to him.
There has been many wars since the birth of mankind that have been unjust with unjust actions, just with unjust actions, just with just actions and unjust with just actions. The Thirty Years' War is one which still appall people today as to what were the justifications for a series of wars which eventually became categorized into one big war-- the Thirty Years' War. There, however, has been many injustifications that allowed the war to "feed itself" through the use of mercenary of soldiers and their leeching off of villages to compensate for payment towards the war effort. These unjust resulted in depopulation over major regions within the country as it caused many of the villagers to starve to death. Acknowledging these unjust actions have allowed mankind to limit the wartime dramatically from three decades to half a decade or less. Whether wars or unjust the actions made during that time should be critically analyzed as an just or unjust action in order to prevent in severe consequences to the human population.
WORKS CITED
Brunstetter, Daniel. "Just War?". Humanities Core. University of California, Irvine, Irvine.14 Nov. 2014. Lecture.
"For More Information, See “Ten Years After: The FBI Since 9/11“." FBI. FBI, 21 May 2010. Web. 14 Nov. 2014. <http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/history/famous-cases/9-11-investigation>.
Kennedy, Gregory. "Personal Lecture." Introduction to Sociology. West Hills Community College District, Firebaugh. July 2012. Lecture.