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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.

POST JUST WAR ESSAY HERE Drew Sarno

December 7, 2011

Were small war(s) just wars?

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Georgia,serif;">When I was making the decision to decide which wars I thought were just and which one's I didn't I used the criteria from the Jus Ad Bellum and from the Jus In Bellum so I could make the decision if a war was just or not. For the Jus Ad Bellum section I found that the most common two were Comparative Justice and Just Cause. A Just cause is "t he reason for going to war needs to be just and cannot therefore be solely for recapturing things taken or punishing people who have done wrong; innocent life must be in imminent danger and intervention must be to protect life" (Criteria for a Just war). Comparative Justice is "While there may be rights and wrongs on all sides of a conflict, to overcome the presumption against the use of force, the injustice suffered by one party must significantly outweigh that suffered by the other" (Criteria For A Just War). For the Jus In Bellum I found that the two most common were Distinction and Military Necessity. Distinction is "Just war conduct should be governed by the principle of distinction. The acts of war should be directed towards enemy combatants, and not towards non-combatants caught in circumstances they did not create. The prohibited acts include bombing civilian residential areas that include no military target and committing acts of terrorism or reprisal against civilians" (Criteria for a just war). Military Necessity is "Just war conduct should be governed by the principle of minimum force. An attack or action must be intended to help in the military defeat of the enemy, it must be an attack on a military objective, and the harm caused to civilians or civilian property must be proportional and not excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated. This principle is meant to limit excessive and unnecessary death and destruction" (Criteria for a just war). In the next couple of paragraphs I will be talking about the wars of Somalia, The Spanish Armada, and Veracruz, Mexico.

The Spanish Armada was the war that was the most just. The Spanish Armada falls under the category of Just Cause. The United States heard about how The military of Spain was abuses the Cuban's because they wanted to limit their powers. They went in to declare independence for Cuba. Another reason the United States had to jump in to protect Cuba was because Spain outnumbered Cuba and this would be defined under the comparative Justice criteria. The U.S. "has the right to interfere with other countries in order from it to ensure freedom" (Bobby B. and Reyna L. Wiki). "Coming in with the best of intentions, America intended to rid Cuba of their less-than-democratic Spanish government; as would be expected, the Spanish didn’t like the Americans stepping in, and the conflict ultimately ended in war" (Bobby B. and Reyna L. Wiki). They had originally gone in because they thought that Cuba had a unjust Government and it was necessary to step in and fix and government that was so close to the United States board. The U.S. felt like it was their duty to help. The following information shows why I thought this was the most Just war out of the three.

The war that was second most just was Somalia. The country was being overrun by drug/ land lords. They were "torturing innocent people" (Sarah H. and Catt P. Wiki) This is one of the reasons the United States decided to come into the war. The drug people fall under the Jus in Bello criteria for distinction, because they were fighting people over a pointless issue when they should be in their own country worrying about their own problems. The country "was being overrun by communists, just like in Grenada" (Sarah H. and Catt P. Wiki) This is another reason the United States joined because something that concerned the United States was communism. They were trying to do as much as they could to get rid of communism. The United States had tried to settle with communist country's by using peace but this never worked. This meant that the United States would have to go to war for this. Also the United States followed the criteria of military necessity, and they did this by limiting the firepower and only focusing on the target. They never did anything to effect the country but based the war on only fighting the military.

"The third war was Veracruz, Mexico. The U.S. settled in prohibited territory in Mexico, but instead of working towards a peaceful treaty, Mexico's leader "launched a period of "big stick" diplomacy (Ashley M. Brian M. wiki). The U.S. demanded an apology, but Mexico refused to do so, and that's why the U.S. went to war. Although many say "the U.S. had no right to ask for an apology" (Ashley M. Brian M. wiki), there were legitimate threats coming from Mexico that terrified the U.S. soldiers. This war falls under the category of both military necessity, and just cause, because although the U.S. went to war for not getting an apology, they kept its military power to a minimum because they only went to war for one purpose, and that was to get things with Mexico straightened out" (Lucas .S Wiki).


 * 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 **
 * •Use the __four__ criteria to analyze why the three small wars are "just wars", **** attempt to use criteria to analyze the wars **
 * •Support your analysis of each war with evidence from the Small Wars Wiki, **** evidence used to support your claims is often misinterpreted **
 * •Rank the three small wars and explain why one war is more just than the other two, **** evidence is listed rather than used to support your reasoning, your arguments are not always clearly explained **
 * •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 you writing in ** **extended power paragraphs****,** ** not always used; evidence must be followed by a sentence that explains how it give the thesis authority. **
 * •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; WC omitted **