The Redhunter

On the one hand, we must reject the moral relevatists who tell us "one person's terrorist is another person's freedom fighter." On the other, we must be careful not to claim that we are certain that "God is on our side." Few states or causes have absolute justice on their side. However, in most cases one is more in the right than the other.

That this seems obvious is not borne out by everyday observations. During the Cold War there were those who denied that the United States had the right to defend it or it's allies against the Soviet Union due to the existence of this or that injustice within the United States. And to be sure, many of the things the critics pointed to were in need of serious attention, lack of civil rights for blacks primary among them. Today we see those on the left for whom any wrong on our side delegitimizes our entire War on Terror, and primarily the War in Iraq. This has been amply documented elsewhere, so there is no need for a recitiation of the facts here.

But those who insist on perfection, or absolute justice, are really seeking an impossible utopia. While the quest for utopia may seem a harmless fallacy to some, the reality is that in some cases it has led to the worst of totalitarianism the world has every seen. Further, Christianity, upon which Just War Theory is based, teaches that perfection on earth is an impossibility.

Thus those who insist on purity on our side are in error. This is, of course, not to say that no criticism of the United States or our allies is permissible. The question is whether that criticism is meant to help us win the war, or simply to bash and denounce the United States and our allies.

The second part of Comparative Justice is that it limits the means that can be employed to fight the war. The essential point is that the extent to which we may defend ourselves against an enemy is limed by the comparative justice between them and us. If there is no difference between them and us, we would be unjust in using force. (Note: war fighting is more properly the subject of jus in bello and will be discussed at length in part II)

During the Cold War a dangerous lack of moral clarity was in evidence in some intellectual circles. Terms like "the two superpowers" or "superpower rivalry" revealed a type of thinking in which the US and USSR were merely two chessplayers on the board of international politics. The reality was that the Soviet Communists truly wanted to rule the world, and put it under the thumb of a 1984-style regime. We had no desire to rule the world, but didn't want them to either. We were a democracy, and they were a totalitarian regime. That we were hardly perfect detracted not at all from the rightness of our cause.

Today we see moral equivalence in the War on Terror, and particularly with regard to the War in Iraq. Inanities such as "Stop the War" and "all killing is wrong" imply that we are in pursuit of an evil imperialistic agenda, and thus (at best) both sides are at fault. At worst, it is our entire fault because we did not sit back passively after 9/11 and Saddam's violations and agree to let everything be mediated by the United Nations.

We also see moral equivalence in Israel's war against Palestinian terror. The insistence among the elites in the media to decry the "cycle of violence" would be laughable were it not so tragic. Of course, there is no "cycle"; the terrorists attack regardless of what Israel does. The desire to be "evenhanded" and to urge "both sides to stop the violence" is unfortunately an attitude that American administrations have adopted at least since the Carter presidency.

Prelude to War

With regard to al Qaeda, the question is not whether we have done anything wrong in the Middle East, such as support dictators in Saudi Arabia, but whether their version of justice was better or worse than ours. And I think it clear that there has not been such a clear-cut case of who is right and who is wrong since the Second World War. Al Qaeda attacked us numerous times in the 1990's before they destroyed World Trade Center. There is much evidence to suggest that they would do so again. Further, if Osama bin Laden were able to impliment his vision of the Caliphate in the Middle East, we would see the rise of a regime comparable to Hitler's Germany or Stalin's Soviet Union.

With regard to the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, the question was not whether the United States had done every single thing right. The question is whether we were more in the right than Saddam Hussein's Iraq. Saddam violated every single agreement he made after the Gulf War. Perhaps we should have done this or that differently in the UN Security Council. But it takes an act of moral blindness to believe that "we are no better than they are." I am not going to recite all of my reasons why I believe the War in Iraq is justified, for I have done that in an earlier post.

There is no doubt that United States soldiers, and apparently civilian contractors, committed crimes at Abu Ghraib. Saddam murdered hundreds of thousands and buried them in mass graves. We investigate and prosecute our own (sorry, lefties, there's no evidence Rumsfeld was involved). Saddam promoted criminals like "Chemical" Ali, and the terrorists in Iraq today plant their bombs without any regard for civilian casualties. We go to great extent to minimize civilian casualties, and the terrorists go to great extent to maximize civilian casualties. Yet one of our young Marines shoots a terrorist who was probably playing dead and we are savaged in the press. The lack of moral clarity in some quarters is nothing short of astounding.

Other Rogue Regimes

What does this portend for other regimes such as Iran, North Korea, Syria, and China? As I have said in other posts, it is possible that we might go to war with China over Taiwan. No doubt we will see much moral equivelance from our elites were this to occur.

It is clear to me that we pass the test of Comparative Justice with regard to all of these regimes.

Just because a state passes the test of Comparative Justice does not mean that it has carte blanche to do what it wishes. Readers of this series should know by now that all of the tests must be met and passed.

Just War Theory is, as the name implies, only concerned with regimes with which we might go to war. It is not concerned with our relations with distasteful regimes such as those in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, or Zimbabwe. I've made my thoughts clear on Saudi Arabia, for example, in other posts (here and here).

Next Time: Right Intention

Posted by Tom at January 25, 2005 5:41 PM

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