You should read Thomas Aquinas' writing on justified war, then you would actually know what your attempting to speak of. BTW I mispoke when I said the pope "blessed" the Afganistan campaign, but he said it was allowed within the confines of the Just War and in response to what happened with 9/11.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/alabaster/A644672
Quote:
A Just War
In respect to the rest of his work, these particular rules were not very important. However, even today the Church clings to them as a benchmark for justice. The rules themselves are in bold, the interpretations are in normal text, and the examples are in italics.
There were originally three by Aquinas;
The war must be started and controlled by the authority of state or ruler.
This means that for a war to be just, only the head of the nation can start it. It rules out civil war and rebellion.
This was not the case in the French Revolution because it was started by the people.
There must be a just cause.
This means that anyone and everyone being fought against must truly deserve it. A just cause would not include greed, revenge or pride, but it would include protection, self-defence and prevention of a worse evil.
This was not the case when Hitler invaded Poland in 1939 because the invasion was to gain land.
The war must be for good, or against evil. Law and order must always be restored.
This means that no one should ever find themselves on the side of evil for any reason, whatever the politics involved. It also means that there is a duty to return to a life of normality after the war is over.
This was not the case in the Boer war when the British immigrants revolted against the Afrikaans, since it was a thinly disguised attempt to make South Africa part of the British Empire.
Two more rules were later added by the Catholic Church, when new developments meant that some countries were much stronger than others. This meant that they would be more likely to win any war they started, and so they could start wars for more trivial purposes.
The war must be a last resort.
This means that every other option must be tried first.
This was not the case in World War I since the countries involved were prepared for war at the earliest opportunity, and trapped each other into it.
The war must be fought proportionally.
This means do not use more force than necessary or kill more civilians than necessary.
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