Category Archives: Just War Theory
Terrorism, Acts of War, and Military Trials
As you’re probably already aware, there’s been some disagreement with the Obama administration’s plan to try alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in a New York civilian court. Among the objections is the claim that trying terrorists in civilian court commits one to a “law enforcement” view of terrorism rather than a “war on terrorism” approach. Now as a general … Continue reading
Necessitudo ad bellum?
It’s starting to sound a lot like 2005 again. Remember 2005? Iraq was a big, fat mess. American troops were dying at an alarming rate. Iraqi civilians were dying at an alarming-er rate (not that many Americans gave that much thought). The insurgents seemed to be gaining the upper hand. And there was a growing call from left-of-center pundits, bloggers … Continue reading
Just Following Orders
Today’s Washington Times features an opinion piece by GEN Michael Hayden, whose most recent two gigs were as head of the CIA and the NSA. Given that background, it’s probably not much of a surprise that his op-ed blasts the Obama administration for its plan to release another cache of documents relating to the CIA’s “enhanced interrogation” practices. (Say what … Continue reading
Nation-Building on the Cheap
Spencer Ackerman has a post today laying out the argument for abandoning the war in Afghanistan. According to Ackerman: It’s perfectly coherent to assert that the U.S. has interests in Country X that are worth pursuing — at acceptable cost. Setting out a test for whether they’re achievable at Cost-Value Y, measured in time, blood and treasure, is rational. So … Continue reading
Proportionality and the Crime of War
Last week, I looked at one (failed) attempt to excuse Israel’s actions in Gaza by redefining proportionality more or less out of existence. But, as I said then, those opposing the war on just war grounds haven’t always gotten things right, either. By way of reminder, here’s the Atlantic’s Andrew Sullivan: In the history of the West, the laws of … Continue reading
Proportionality and Fallacies
Israel’s war in Gaza has once again proved what all just war theory scholars know: people only pay attention to just war theory after a war has begun. Still, recent discussions about the justice of Israel’s war are useful, even if belated. Much of the conversation has centered on the question of proportionality. Andrew Sullivan, for example, writes that You … Continue reading
The Case for Genocide Prevention
Okay, so no one is actually arguing against preventing genocide. But both Matt Yglesias and Ambassador At Large argue that the Very Serious People who tend to equate preventing genocide with armed intervention are missing the boat. Matt complains that But then whenever anyone suggests that the U.S. commit itself to following international law and not using non-defensive military force … Continue reading
The Fog of War
Okay, so this kind of stuff used to go up on my old blog. Or at Catallarchy. Or even in an academic paper, if I were really serious. But with the official assumption of neutrality at FactCheck, the whole Catallarchy thing had to go. Of course, nothing says that I can’t still have opinions about things. Or that I can’t … Continue reading
Thoughts on Iraq, Cont.
It’s post Valentine’s Day blogging! Now that the bottle of white Burgundy (that’s just so much fun to write) has worn off, the coffee has kicked in and the morning run has cleared out the cobwebs, maybe I can say something semi-coherent. Or as semi-coherent as anything that I write here ever really gets. Anyway, in my last post, I … Continue reading
Watada Update
Big news Thursday out of Fort Lewis — or at any rate, big news for those of us who have been following the court-martial of LT Ehren Watada. For those not following at home, LT Watada was court-martialed for his refusal to deploy to Iraq. Watada does not deny deliberately refusing the order, and argues in his defense that the … Continue reading