The Other Side of the Iraq War
Ashley Hunter
Professor Scheffer
ENG 111-05
12 April, 2013
Waging War For What?
I’m sure most, if not all of you, are all familiar with the recently ended Iraq War. Well how would you like to hear that this 8 year long war was not even justified? According to the just war theory the well-known Iraq War is considered not a just war. Why you may ask? Well the just war theory has many different criteria and regulations that have to be met in order to consider a war just. Focusing in on a few of those criteria has determined that it is indeed not a just war. Some of those criteria include having no just cause. When a war is waged due to reasons or causes that are viewed as wrong, it causes the war to be unjust. Another aspect is having the right intention. When a war is waged on an intention that is unethical or wrong, it is considered unjust. Lastly, it talks about the aspect of a war having to be a last resort. This talks about how a war should only be created when there is no other way possible to resolve an issue at hand. When this is not met it causes the war to also be unjust. Statistics show that due to these issues not being able to be met it classifies the Iraq War as an unjust war.
One of the criteria that have to be met in order to be just, was it needed to have a just cause. One of the main reasons why the war was started was because the United States feared that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. Prior research shows that the United States already has spies and investigators in Iraq at the time and there were no signs or reason to believe they had weapons of mass destruction since the mid-1900s. “The Iraq Survey Group concluded that ‘Iraq, by the mid-1990s, was essentially free of militarily significant WMD stocks’, although Saddam retained a strategic ambition and capability to reacquire them once the sanctions regime had ended.” (Fisher). Seen as though the war began in 2003, the threat of weapons of mass destruction could not be considered a
Professor Scheffer
ENG 111-05
12 April, 2013
Waging War For What?
I’m sure most, if not all of you, are all familiar with the recently ended Iraq War. Well how would you like to hear that this 8 year long war was not even justified? According to the just war theory the well-known Iraq War is considered not a just war. Why you may ask? Well the just war theory has many different criteria and regulations that have to be met in order to consider a war just. Focusing in on a few of those criteria has determined that it is indeed not a just war. Some of those criteria include having no just cause. When a war is waged due to reasons or causes that are viewed as wrong, it causes the war to be unjust. Another aspect is having the right intention. When a war is waged on an intention that is unethical or wrong, it is considered unjust. Lastly, it talks about the aspect of a war having to be a last resort. This talks about how a war should only be created when there is no other way possible to resolve an issue at hand. When this is not met it causes the war to also be unjust. Statistics show that due to these issues not being able to be met it classifies the Iraq War as an unjust war.
One of the criteria that have to be met in order to be just, was it needed to have a just cause. One of the main reasons why the war was started was because the United States feared that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. Prior research shows that the United States already has spies and investigators in Iraq at the time and there were no signs or reason to believe they had weapons of mass destruction since the mid-1900s. “The Iraq Survey Group concluded that ‘Iraq, by the mid-1990s, was essentially free of militarily significant WMD stocks’, although Saddam retained a strategic ambition and capability to reacquire them once the sanctions regime had ended.” (Fisher). Seen as though the war began in 2003, the threat of weapons of mass destruction could not be considered a