RE: [pf] Fwd. NYTimes article: Thinkers Face the Limits of a Just War

Re: http://csf.colorado.edu/mail/pfvs/2001III/msg01503.html ; tully's: 
[pf] Fwd: NYTimes.com Article: Thinkers Face the Limits of a Just War :-

· This bit is the nub of the matter, IMO. It contains:
"If one is engaging in police actions against international criminals" :-

  ""It was St. Augustine who said the greatest danger of war is not the
physical harm that it causes but the passions that it inspires," said the
Rev. J. Bryan Hehir ...

 .. the issue lies in the asymmetrical balance of forces. On one side is a
modern superpower with a full arsenal of high-tech weapons restrained by
popular moral revulsion at the prospect of inflicting unintended damage on
innocent bystanders. On the other is a shadowy network of conspirators who
may lack modern weapons but have no qualms about killing thousands of victims.

Few moral philosophers except committed pacifists dispute that the United
States has just-cause to use force in this case. But many emphatically
reject the use of the word "war" (in anything but a metaphorical sense),
noting that in this case the enemy is not a state against which hostilities
can be formally declared and from which surrender can be sought.

"It is like the war against crime or drugs," said Sir Michael Howard, a
noted military historian. "It is a way of mobilizing forces, but
_that_is_not_a_war_."  [D's emphasis.]

Still, the restraints of a just-war doctrine must apply, Sir Michael
continued. "If one is engaging in police actions against international
criminals, it is even more important that we do no more damage to innocent
bystanders than is absolutely necessary," he said.

But those restraints, many agree, are particularly difficult to apply
against targets who are not only elusive and covert but who deliberately
use the civilian population for cover."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
David.
David MacClement [davd @ ihug.co.nz] (remove spaces)
http://davd.tripod.com/GrRR-010907_titles.html#top
http://www.geocities.com/davd.geo/index.html#top
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