Even if the torture of these people would save lives it is a slippery slope that we do not want to begin. Once we allow the torture of suspects or terrorists it could begin a landslide witch-hunt in which people who are not terrorists and have not committed any crimes could be tortured based on suspect or circumstantial evidence.
While there is justified outrage at what happened in this country we, as Americans, must maintain our ethical standards at all times. It is only by maintaining these standards that we can hope to set and example worldwide about the strength and dignity of our nation and all that it stands for.
The history of "just war" philosophy stems from religious and secular issues. One of the longest standing Just War traditions centers on religious differences including the differences between Muslim and Christian faiths. In addition the "Just War" theories support the idea of a war for the purpose of self-defense. While the war in Iraq may have begun after the attacks in the United States had ended, many people believe it is a Just War because of the possibility of future attacks that would kill more innocent, non-military citizens.
Some experts currently believe that President Bush failed to satisfy the requirements for a morally just war when he launched the attack on Iraq. Searching for Bin Ladin and attempting ot bring him to justice was supported by the experts and the American public, but the attacks on Iraq, a nation that had not committed any aggressive acts against the U.S. In a decade was morally unjustified according to many war experts.
One expert "added that, as a foreign policy goal, regime change is the "moral equivalent" of the unconditional surrender demanded of the Axis powers by the Allies in World War II. Such terms, he said, give the victorious nation the responsibility to rebuild the nation it has destroyed, but the White House has yet to detail "a coherent plan" for rebuilding a post-Saddam Iraq. Another issue, Walzer said, is that the Bush administration's arguments for humanitarian and national security reasons for an Iraq war are based upon dated events. He said the United States has passed up such opportunities in the past -- such as when Saddam gassed Iraqi Kurds or blocked U.N. weapons inspections -- when attacking Iraq was clearly justifiable (Might, 2002)."
If these were true reasons to have a Just War the time to launch that war would have been during the 1990's according to the standards set out for the Just War philosophy.
I just war is often launched to change a regime that allows people to be treated inhumanely. While many people argue over what the criteria should be for a Just War, it is generally accepted that a Just War is warranted any time a body or government tries to force others to live by its rules, for instance dictatorships.
Whether or not the current war on terror is a Just War has been debated since its beginning. While some say it is a just war because it seeks to change the way many are being treated inhumanely in certain nations, others will argue it is not just because it forces other nations, such as Iraq to change the way it operates. Many news shows have broadcast the anti-American sentiment in Iraq because this nation went in and forcibly dismantled its government and forced it to structure a democracy in its place.
Iraq has not been proven to have been involved in the attacks of the towers, therefore experts argue the war is not just as it forces a nation to change it structure without moral cause to do so.
While the war on terror can be characterized in its broadest sense as a jut war, its individual actions and details deviate from the moral and ethical justifications for such a war being called a just war.
Fighting terrorism is going to be declared just as long as that is the only purpose. To understand the difference between that and an unjust war one can turn to legal operations in the states. When a search warrant is executed for a home the search warrant must specify what items the warrant will allow a search for and why the search is needed.
Many people have heard that if police go into a home with warrant that names a body, and a murder weapon as the items being searched for and the officials find drugs, they cannot seize the drugs nor can they prosecute the home dwellers for those drugs.
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