Justifying War

Justifying War
James Sterba states in his article entitled Reconciling Pacifists and Just War Theories that it is undeniable that wars bring huge amounts of death and destruction, with many of those being innocent people. He states that with the amount of innocents killed during wartimes, it is almost impossible to justify warfare at all. The killing of innocents is looked at as a major violation of our social norms and, outside of war, is punished under the full extent of the law. During wartime though, killing is permitted, even glorified at times, whether it be an enemy combatant or an innocent bystander who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. However, despite all the bad that comes from war, such as death and fear, war is necessary for the entire world to make progress and advance ourselves forward as a whole. War brings about change, changing of ourselves and changing of the world around us. War brings about new technology, new friendships, unification, and even hope for a new tomorrow. Through past wars, we have learned how we should act as a country, learning from past mistakes made and making ourselves better as a whole. Though the killing of both innocents and non-innocents alike is not permitted on an everyday basis and is considered morally wrong, warfare and all that is brings is morally permissible if and only if there is justification for it.
One of the main reasons that Streba believes that justifying war is all but impossible is the amount of death it causes death, sometimes in the hundreds of thousands. Soldiers are killed during fighting as well as innocent civilians, everyone involved lives in fear that they may be next, and it’s in general not pleasant to live with. Along with death, you also have destruction that comes with war. Buildings are bombed, cities destroyed, roads demolished. And not only is there physical damage but there can also be mental and social damage as well. Citizens can be turned against one another,