Today's America And The Just War Theory

Since the end of World War II, America has been on the "warpath," a series of regional wars stretching around the globe: first the Korean Police Action, then Vietnam, more recently the Iraq incursion, and this past weekend, the bombing of Iran. These are just the highlights of what has become a steadily growing list of direct and indirect (Ukraine) military incursions into the affairs of opposing sovereign nations.

Many have observed that the United States has become the "policeman" of the world, enforcing its vision of the world. What President George HW Bush called the "Rules-Based Order." Just who's "Order," you may ask? Why, America's, of course.

More recently, President Donald Trump put it this way: It's the "Golden Rule, he (e.g., America) who has the Gold rules." Succinct.

America has taken on the role of the "Leader of the Free World," a loosely constructed, modestly organized representation of whatever the current leadership in our country deemed was in our best interest and, therefore, in the best interest of the world.

The Just War Theory

The Just War Theory goes back to the very foundations of Western Civilization, to the Egyptians, who recognized that there is a higher authority than the State. For them, this authority was represented by the Pharaoh, who was both a secular ruler and a god. Although we reject the notion that our rulers are gods today, the principle that a country ought to answer to a higher authority remains.

Two Doctors of the Church, representing the pinnacle of Christian theological thought, St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, both refined and expanded upon the Just War Theory. Again, there are specific threads that go between all of the Just War Proponents. To engage in a Just War, nations must have clear and specific objectives and justifications for engaging in violence. If a country is attacked, it is universally accepted as a just reason to go to war.

However, in modern America, clear and specific reasons to engage in conflict are most often missing. Instead, we are given vague, sometimes contradictory causes for marching into war. From the Vietnam "Domino Theory" (if Vietnam fell, all of Asia would become communist), to the Iraq "Weapons of Mass Destruction" (alleged that Saddam Hussein possessed mass destruction weapons), to today's "Iran must not possess Nuclear Bombs," later morphing into "Why wouldn't they want Regime Change?" The American criteria for war are vague and seemingly ad hoc. With more preparation given to the battlefield plans than to assessing whether a War is justified.

The American New World Order

Thirty-five years ago, President George HW Bush (Bush #1) presented the new American version of a Just War. It was in the days before the Iraq War, a time when the President was looking to explain to the American public his justifications for the coming military incursion. In a now-famous speech, he outlines a vision of peace and harmony throughout the world, emphasizing benefits over details.

-- a new world order -- can emerge: a new era -- freer from the threat of terror, stronger in the pursuit of justice, and more secure in the quest for peace. An era in which the nations of the world, East and West, North and South, can prosper and live in harmony. A hundred generations have searched for this elusive path to peace while a thousand wars raged across the span of human endeavor. Today, that new world is struggling to be born, a world quite different from the one we've known. A world where the rule of law supplants the rule of the jungle. A world in which nations recognize the shared responsibility for freedom and justice—a world where the strong respect the rights of the weak.

https://bush41library.tamu.edu/archives/public-papers/2217

Unspoken in this speech was: who would lead this "New World Order?" Extensive speculation has centered on various international organizations and entities, including the United Nations, the European Union, and the World Economic Forum, among others. The list of NWO Leadership is lengthy. But when it comes to actual boots-on-the-ground military strikes, there is only one: the United States.

The "New World Order" or "Rules Based Order" has only one real leader; in terms of army, navy, and air force, it's the USA.

The Trump Doctrine

While George HW Bush defined the American vision of a Rules-Based Order, it came to President Trump to implement it. Just days before he ordered a strike on three of Iran's nuclear sites (Fordow, Natanz, and Isfhan), Trump responded to reporter's questions:

"I may do it, I may not do it," Trump said of a potential U.S. strike in another exchange with reporters at the White House on Wednesday. "I mean, nobody knows what I'm going to do."

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/watch-nobody-knows-what-im-going-to-do-trump-says-on-iran

The decision of whether to strike another country now rested solely upon the shoulders of President Trump. He exercised his responsibilities of Commander in Chief but also assumed the responsibility of prosecutor. It was Trump, and Trump alone, who determined whether the United States was justified in its attack.

The Just War Theory, with its carefully constructed objective criteria, answering to a higher authority, and limited violence centered on self-preservation, is all gone, two millennia of Christian Just War doctrine thrown out the window. Trump had taken us back to the time of the Pharaohs, when one man alone embodied both a military commander and a deity, determining both the sentence and the execution.

Under President Trump, America has come full circle to a time many thought was long past.

Follow me here on ValueSide for more articles like this.