[Peace-discuss] Obama Invokes "Just War, " But Is the War in Afghanistan "Just"?

[Robert Naiman]

Obama Invokes "Just War," But Is the War in Afghanistan "Just"?

"Accepting Peace Prize, Obama Evokes 'Just War,'" notes the headline
in the New York Times, referring to President Obama's speech accepting
the Nobel Peace Prize. President Obama did indeed invoke the concept
of a "just war." But tellingly, he did not try to argue that the U.S.
war in Afghanistan meets the criteria to be judged as a "just war."

A plausible explanation for the President's failure to argue that the
war in Afghanistan is a "just war" is that he recognizes that such an
argument would not be convincing.

As President Obama noted in his speech, there are criteria involved in
the "just war" concept. It isn't just a matter of proclaiming that a
war is justified. There are tests.

This matters, because a substantial part of the U.S. and world
population subscribes to the theory of "just war." In particular, more
than a fifth of the U.S. population are estimated to identify as
Catholics. The concept of "just war" - that wars can be considered
"just" only if they meet certain criteria - is an official doctrine of
the Catholic Church.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-naiman/obama-invokes-just-war-bu_b_387231.html

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/12/10/121056/05

http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/node/426


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Robert Naiman
Just Foreign Policy
www.justforeignpolicy.org
naiman at justforeignpolicy.org