The United States has ultimately striven to bring regional stability to Iraq and to Afghanistan, not to establish a permanent presence, and such stability is to be welcomed by all, particularly those who live in these nations who desire peace.
The means of a just war must be limited by proportionality to the offense.
The offense is a potentially future attack, "one we have good reason to believe is coming, then we can prevent it with what it takes to prevent it in proportion to how reasonably we can expect it and what means would be involved in such a potential attack" (Pierce 2005). Given the extent of the offense in 2001, the United States' response seems moderate -- had Iraq been attacked in a similar fashion, how would Saddam have responded, given his treatment of innocent Kurds and innocent civilians who opposed his own rule?
There should be no intentional and direct attack on noncombatants.
Firstly in both Iraq and Afghanistan, the United States never knowingly, deliberately targeted non-combatants. And while war always has unfortunate causalities, and yes "an invasion means that innocent civilians will die, without doubt," that is by itself not an argument (Pierce 2005). The question is always: what is the alternative: civilians were dying of hunger and disease and in Saddam's jails and suffering "life-long debilitating disfigurement, rape, humiliation, and simple day-to-day" misery and fear (Sjostrom 2009). Although regrettable incidents are inevitable in every war, including losses due to friendly fire, the amount of unproductive death, destruction, and oppression waged by Saddam is not comparable to the unfortunate effects of an invasion, brought upon by his own actions.
War should not be prolonged when there is no reasonable hope of success within these limits.
Even the most vociferous critics of both wars concede that there have been notable successes. Human rights have improved in Iraq -- the minority ethnic group of the Kurds no longer lives in fear of their lives. While Osama Bin Laden remains at large, prominent terrorists from his group have been apprehended and brought to justice, and there have been no comparable attacks upon U.S. soil since 2001. Moreover, invading Iraq has been a way to "break out of the impasse of the dual containment of Iraq and Iran pursued by the Clinton administration. By establishing a pro-American government in Baghdad, the United States would gain leverage against Tehran" (Zelleke & Dujarric 2008).
Today, the United States must proceed undaunted, and will, especially in Afghanistan where regional instability requires that the United States' efforts be redoubled. In fact, not only can few "doubt that Afghanistan was a just war," as "Al Qaeda had the run of the country under the hyper-religious Taliban, but "from what we know from hastily abandoned Al Qaeda documents and computers," evidence suggests that before the United States invaded, "Afghanistan had become even more of a dangerous haven for international terrorism than we had thought" (Greenway 2005).
The even...
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