Brian+M.+-+Just+War

Home Small Wars Project Just Wars Essays

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.

Just Wars

Since the beginning of our nation’s history, America has been involved in no less than 240 small or low-intensity wars. A small war is usually defined as a “campaign undertaken to suppress rebellions and guerilla warfare in all parts of the world where organized armies are struggling against opponents who will not meet them in an open field” (Boot xv). These wars have taken place all over the world for a variety of reasons. Some have been for material gains, some have been fought to punish an insult to our nation, and some have been fought to right the wrongs of bellicose regimes and criminals against humanity. With all of the wars we have fought, it is inevitable that some were fought for nobler reasons than others. These noble wars we usually refer to as being “just”. Two forms of criteria for a just war are “jus ad bellum”, the right to go to war, and “jus in bello”, the right conduct while fighting a war; there are also criteria for those two categories as well. In order to go to war, “innocent life must be in imminent danger and intervention must be to protect life” (Criteria for a Just War); this is referred to as a “Just Cause”. Also, whomever we intervene to help must be the group suffering the most injustice; this is referred to as “Comparative Justice”. While fighting a war, the deaths of civilians is usually taboo; this is called “Distinction”. Also, overkill is usually taboo and so is attacking a non-military target; this falls under the idea of “Military Necessity”. The three small wars that the United States has fought that I think match the criteria the most are the 1999 conflict in Kosovo, the 1992 intervention in Somalia, and the Tanker War in 1987. To decide which war was the most just, I will analyze the wars in all of the criteria: “Jus ad Bellum”, comprising “Just Cause”, and “Comparative Justice”, and “Jus in Bello”, comprising “Distinction”, and “Military Necessity”.

People and nations give plenty of reasons for going to war. Some are better than others, and some are hard to decide whether they are good or not. By the year 1992, the land that used to be the sovereign nation of Somalia had completely fallen into chaos. Rival warlords competed for land and resources and some used starvation to keep the people in line. People were dying by the thousands while the warlords hoarded the food to feed their militias. The United Nations sent food to the people, but since the easiest way to do so was through ports, the warlords on the coast were able to intercept these shipments and kill any civilians who tried to get their hands on them. This civilian slaughter caused outrage in the global community. The UN then sent in a peacekeeping force to restore order. As skirmishes between Somalis and the Army increased to the point of all-out warfare, the US decided to go on the offensive. Eventually the public support for the war was lost and we pulled out.

Another war to stop genocide was the Kosovo conflict. The people of Albania and Kosovo were being subjugated by Serbian President Milosevic. His regime sponsored the ethnic cleansing of the Kosovoan people. We went in to ease the suffering of the people. Also, had the ethnic cleansing been allowed to continue unhindered, the politics of the situation could have destabilized governments in Europe.

More than a decade before the Kosovo conflict, politics in the Middle East began to destabilize as well. A paranoid Iraqi government under Saddam Hussein became convinced that their neighboring country Iran was spying on them and intended to start an internal revolution. The government of Iraq was of the Sunni sect of Islam and Iran was a predominantly Shi’ite (traditional rivals to the Sunnis) nation. When Iraq attacked and invaded Iran, we had to choose which government to support. We chose to support Iran because we didn’t trust Iraq and Iran had numerous large oil fields.

While we intervened in the Tanker War, the people that were suffering were the Iranians. The Iraqi government had a traditional feud with Iran that was thousands of years old so they spared no quarter during their invasion. While the main reason we went in was to protect our oil interests, our intervention did help the Iranian people. The people that we helped in Kosovo were being poorly treated by Milosevic and we went in to help them. However, during our campaign, we bombed many Kosovoan cities, which killed some of the civilians we were trying to help. In Somalia, the warlords used starvation to keep their people in line, which obviously resulted in thousands of civilian deaths. They spent just as much time shooting at us as they did shooting at civilians who were simply trying to feed themselves and their families. On the other side of the conflict, the United Nations was in command of all foreign policy and rules of engagement (ROEs). Their ROEs were extremely strict and forbade firing upon children, women, and any other time they were not directly taking fire. Because of this, members of the military were forced to sit back and watch as armed militias slaughtered scores of civilians. When Americans actually took fire, their responses had to be minimal and free of collateral damage and civilian casualties. Despite the pacifist ROEs of the UN, we were still able to restore order and help the starving civilians for the remainder of the time we were still supported by the public.

While Somalia is still a failed state in chaos, and we didn’t really accomplish the goal of completely ending the suffering and starvation, I think that our intervention was extremely important. Our goal through the whole ordeal was to help the Somali people and end the starvation in the area, which is a completely “Just Cause” and is also “Comparative Justice”. The UN mandated that our actions in the area agree with the “Distinction” and “Military Necessity” criteria. This limited our actions, but allowed our war to minimize civilian casualties and overkill. Because of this, I believe that the 1992 intervention in Somalia was the most just small war our country has fought in its history. Coming in second is the conflict in Kosovo. Going in, we had the goal of ending the suffering and ethnic cleansing imposed on the Albanian and Kosovoan people by the Serbians and Milosevic. As stated above, this agrees with “Just Cause” and “Comparative Justice” criteria. While we killed Kosovoan civilians by bombing cities and in doing so disagreed with the “Distinction” criteria, we accomplished our goal and removed Milosevic from the daily lives of the Kosovoan people. Coming in third on the list of the most just wars we have fought is the Tanker War. Our goal was to help the Iranians and safeguard the interests of America in the Middle East. While oil is not the most just cause we have had for entering a war, helping a nation repel invaders is one of the greatest services a fellow nation can do for another and is a just cause. While my view may differ from others, I believe that when a country fights to ease the suffering of a group of people it is a testament to the compassion of humanity and is one of the few situations where I believe war is permitted and necessary.

WC:

Boot, Max. //The Savage Wars of Peace.// New York: Basic Books, 2003. 148-155. Print.

“Just War Criteria” Handout

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", 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, evidence and reasoning are clear

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, except for the first paragraph, 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; WC has some omissions