Custom «Just War » Essay Paper Sample

The theory of just war originated from the doctrine of military ethics of Romans and Catholics. To them they argued that just war need to meet the criteria of religious, philosophical and political justice. According to St. Augustine, war was a means to deal with sin. His attitude was that you had to show your love any way you could and viewed war simply as a large scale application of death penalty to people who had earned it. From a just war perspective, sometimes war is not only acceptable but at time morally necessary in order to protect innocent ones as well as avert a greater wrong.

To my perspective, there exists just war. This can be deeply rooted from Christian perspective; the Old Testament acknowledges clearly that there is time to kill (Eccles. 3:3). At various times, God commanded the Israelites to defend themselves by use of force. This was when they arrived in the wilderness and the amarekites attacked them. Though according to Christians peace is being the goal, it further notes that if it cannot be achieved without force, then force must be used. In the New Testament, it also sets forth the importance of peace but also acknowledges use of force as exposed by John the Baptist who acknowledged the role of roman soldiers as to keep peace of Rome. As noted by Paul, he puts it clear that the state does not bear sword in vain but is Gods servant for your good.

Some of the war that I consider to be just is the America bombing of Japan. Though so many people died during this war where the Americans used atomic bombing whose effects are felt up to date. A number of American military leaders and advisors raised moral questions a bout using such weapon. Looking at this war deeply, the atomic bombing was aimed to get Japan to agree to unconditional surrender. The underlying objective was to end the war and thereby saving even a greater number of Japanese and American lives by avoiding invasion of home islands. Another example was the US decision to defend South Korea. When the North Korea forces invaded South Korea, they had the clear intention of conquering South Korea and bringing its territory under the control of northern Korean government. At this point, the South Korea had the right and justified to defend themselves and also other nations had to help them. The United States managed to get authority from Security Council who authorized military action against North Korea under the leadership of United States. It is clear that the motive of this war of .S supporting South Korea was to maintain peace and avoid oppression from North Korea. In this war, the criteria required to justify war were followed. There was a just cause, it was declared by the U.N and the intention was right among the other criteria’s (Jean 2003).

Looking at the current trends, we can say there is war against terrorism, which is not only a national war but international war against terrorism. The 11^th September attack on America and the other terror attacks in Kenya and Tanzania clearly show there was a clear cause for the affected countries to defend themselves. Thus it was justifiable for these countries and world at large to declare war on the terror groups like alqaeda, Osama bin laden among other such groups. The intention of war against terrorism had the right intention of bringing peace and preventing innocent citizens from dieing or being injured. As depicted Cleary from aftermath of these attacks, many innocent people suffered of no good reason. Thus such is an example of a just war (John 2007).

Recently and up to now, the Kenyan and Somali coast in Indian Ocean has become target for ship hijacking. This has seen pirates asking for ransom amount from the ship owners in order to release the captives plus the cargo. It has forced the international community to declare war on this group of Somali pirates. Such a war is just since there is a clear cause of the war, i.e. to ensure the Indian Ocean water is safe for every body. Since the war was declared, there have been some achievements like the recent one where the U.S managed to rescue the captain of the ship that had been hijacked, killing three pirates. This was also followed by stern warning by the U.S president who authorized use of force to fight pirates. Since various means had been used at length to negotiate with the pirates without yielding fruits, it appears the last resort is to use force for all other means have failed to reach a consensus (Michael 1977).

In conclusion, some war can be justified while others can not. In many cases, war brings about the intended outcome within a very short time. It makes countries to uphold respect for each other and to soften their stand pertaining pressing issues. Following trend of many wars that have taken place from time of memorial, in many instances, various methods had been applied to avert the war and were only employed as the last resort. Peace is good and every one should advocate for it. The problem occurs when some individuals or countries have hidden agenda and look for every opportunity to go into war with the aim of gaining as an individual or a country. It is there fore important for people to use all other means before engaging into war for it mostly affects even the innocent people.