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Comparison Essay: How Just Were the U.S.’s Small Wars?

The Just War Theory has two parts. Study the Just War handout and select the two most significant criteria for **//jus ad bellum//** and two most significant criteria for **//jus in bello//**. With these criteria in mind, select one war from each of your three tables that best meets these criteria. In the essay, you will analyze, compare and rank these three wars.

Write an essay that compares the three small wars and analyzes how well all three meet the four criteria that you believe are most important. Based on this comparison, select the __"most just"__ of the three wars and explain the reasons for the choice. Also, explain why your __second choice__ fell short and were not as just as your __first choice__ but is more just than your __third choice__.

RUBRIC: A quality essay will Explain why you selected **jus ad bellum** and **jus in bello** the criteria, Use the __four__ criteria to analyze why the three small wars are "just wars", Support your analysis of each war with evidence from the Small Wars Wiki, Rank the three small wars and explain why one war is more just than the other two, Explain why the __second__ choice fell short compared to the __first__ choice but is more just than the __third__ choice, Organize you writing in extended power paragraphs, Identify the source and establish its credibility with an appositive phrase, Cite evidence __internally__ and in a Works Cited.

Michael Mitiska

Mrs. Sidor

Just war analysis

7 December 2011

In America’s short history, we have had many wars both internally and outside our country. In the past 100 years we have had many wars. Some of these wars have been all out ways, involving both the military and the citizens of those countries. When America decides to go into these wars, they see if it would be the rights thing for them to do or if they can benefit or befit others by going in. Two of these criteria of a just war are jus ad bellum and jus in Bello, which is the right to go to war and the right conduct within war respectively. I choose to look at three wars and determine if the United States had just cause and comparative justice to go to war; two of the seven Jus ad bellum factors that determine if there was a right to go to war. I choose to look at the just cause because this is the overall factor in determining if there was a right to go to war. I also choose to look at the comparative justice. I am looking at this because I felt that a majority of the wars that the class has been looking at have been where there is a war already going on between two groups or countries and then the United States step in between to calm them down and try to settle the problem. The second factor that determines if a war is just is jus in Bello. I have also chosen 2 from this topic and they are distinction and military necessity. I choose distinction because most of the wars saw at least some military action and this is when we don’t kill the civilians. I believe this is important and should be a major factor in deciding if it is a just war and is why I included it in the study over 3 wars. The other is Military necessity and is when we only use military action to help defeat the enemy and killing/ destroying anything else must be less than that of the enemy. These will be the criteria that I will be looking at when I look in more detail at the Somalia conflict, the Boxer Rebellion, and the Bosnia and Herzegovina war.

Two of the seven criteria for determining if the country has Jus ad Bellum are just cause and comparative justice. I believe that the United States had both of these entering Somalia. They had Just cause to go to war with the Somalia government because “America's goal became to stop warlords, create peace and a stable government” (Sarah H and Catt’s Wiki). These are good reasons to enter and try to save the people who are fighting against the government and warlords. America wanted to help these innocent people because the “War lords controlled the country of Somalia by attacking and starving innocent people” (Sarah H and Catt’s Wiki). These two reasons from their wiki are why the United States had Jus ad Bellum to enter the war/conflict. The Boxer Rebellion in china was a conflict because the Boxers didn’t want to accept the western ideas. American along with the other nations forming the eight-nation alliance had just cause to go in because the Boxers “were killing innocent people” (Brooks and lexie’s Wiki). They also had comparative justice because the Boxers were going in and killing the innocent people and they were trying to fight back but they needed help. These boxers “Targeted foreigners, missionaries, priests, and Chinese citizens who had converted to Christianity” (Brooks and lexie’s Wiki). America wanted to go in to help out these people because they did nothing and were being hurt by the boxers by doing nothing. The last war that will be looked at using the jus ad bellum is the Bosnia and Herzegovina war. In this war the Serbs wanted to control all of the countries in the former Yugoslavia but the other countries wanted to get out and become their own. They “incited a war with aggression to spread Serbian control”(Encyclopedia Britannica). These other countries wanted and tried to get out of Serbian dominance but the Serb’s military was too powerful and was stationed all around former Yugoslavia. America had just cause to enter this area because they were protecting the non-Serbs. The Serbs were “systematically brutalizing and expelling non-Serbs, particularly Bosnian Muslims in a campaign of terror”(Michael M. and Shea’s Wiki). The United states along with, sometimes, other leading countries, had just cause and comparative justice to go to war and stay in war in these areas.

Jus in Bello is criteria on how the country should act after they are in a war. There are three criteria but two of them are distinction and military necessity. In the first war, the Somalia conflict, both of these were looked into. They were distinct to kill, or try to kill, all of the enemies in this war. They tired to “support the humanitarian relief effort in every prudent way possible”(Ted Galen Carpenter). They also needed military help. The “U.S. sent troops into Grenada to protect innocent people and restore peace”(Sarah H and Catt’s Wiki), but they were all in danger. The Boxer rebellion could also be looked at how Jus they were once they got into the war. We were going after their military and were “us[ing] military force if necessary to defend it's national interests” (Sidor). Along with protecting their people, we would use that military to kill and boxers that we believe were doing wrong. The last war that was critiqued would be the Bosnia and Herzegovina war. In this war NATO “fought until negotiations were met and ended the fighting within a year” (eLibrary). We were killing the enemies but at the same time were protecting the citizens. “The outcome of this war called for 60,000 NATO troops that included 20,000 Americans to act as peacekeepers” (Michael M. and Shea’s Wiki). These troops were sent into protect the people and kill the Serbs to get this nation or nations back to a stable ground.

I believe that all these wars were just, only some were more just than the others.. They meet all the steps for a just war. The most just war out of these groups was the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. I believe that this because the two sides fought each other and we stepped in to help the minorities. I think that the war with the boxers was the second most just because the boxers were killing the innocent people; we went in and cleaned it up. The last most just war was the one in Somalia. I believe this because it was chaos and we stepped in and just basically set up a new government.

RUBRIC: A quality essay will

Explain why you selected the two jus ad bellum and the two jus in bello the criteria, criteria identified and defined in paragraph 2; you should delete the first paragraph, it detracts from your essay

Use the __four__ criteria to analyze why the three small wars are "just wars", criteria used to analyze the wars

Support your analysis of each war with evidence from the Small Wars Wiki, evidence used to support your claims

Rank the three small wars and explain why one war is more just than the other two, reasoning is clear but no supporting evidence is offered

Explain why the __second__ choice fell short compared to the __first__ choice but is more just than the __third__ choice, listed, some comparison offered

Organize your writing in extended power paragraphs, competently used

Identify the source and establish its credibility with an appositive phrase, done clearly

Cite evidence __internally__ and in a Works Cited. internal citation mostly correct; no WC