Morality of War - Article Example

The aspect of war has been a hot debate. The impact of war has been defended by some and others have condemned those justifying killing people. In his article, Bellamy sought answers that would prove the Iraq war was moral and justifiable. He examines various attributes that define the activities leading to the war as well as the framework used to justify the U.S. advances into a sovereign state. War, as Bellamy notes, can be justified using two main traditional aspects of thinking: holy war and classical just war thinking based on natural law (Bellamy 2004: 131).
The reason used by the U.S. in their invasion of Iraq was based on the need to have a safer region and use the period to eliminate any wars that would lead to the delivery of humanitarian assistance to the Iraqis. Whether this was true or not, the U.S and its allies went on to attack the country and overthrow the incumbent government. By claiming that they wanted the Iraqi people to determine their fate in peace, many would think they would save as many civilians from the dreaded brutality of the Saddam regime. However, as Bellamy notes, more than 5,500 civilians were killed by the coalition army alone. The question many asked was whether the coalition army was really saving the Iraqi people are creating a humanitarian condition that was not there initially. The aim is to create and enforce global laws as a means towards attaining a justifiable ending. Moral and naturals emanate from being human and are knowable by just exercising what is considered as moral reasoning (Bellamy 2004: 132). There is also the fact that the strategic document dealing with the justification of the war intended to have nations ratify the feeling that countries should not wait to be attacked for them to lawfully take action that would justify their attack of a rogue state (Bellamy 2004: 136).
The article is quite vocal on the importance of having a greater understanding of what war is all about and the author tries a great deal to show why the attack on Iraq was against the needs of the Iraqi people. The article shows that the misuse of the just war theory led to abuses during the war and led to the violation of human rights amongst Iraqis who had nowhere else to run to. Their regime was under violent attack and the coalition forces were also killing innocent people. The declaration of holy war as problematic left natural law as the easiest route towards attacking Iraq. This was justifiable as a way of securing the rights of the people, but the legal implications of the same made it more difficult to deal with issues across the board (Fotion, 2007: 109). In most instances, the rule of law is dependent on the ability to address issues based on the genuineness of the facts stipulated. After the use of force lacked any backing from the UN, securing humanitarian rights was the next argument put across. The balance in relationships between legal aspects of law and the natural law made the attack seem malicious due to the inflicted pain.
Nonetheless, it is important to note that the just war tradition was mainly a way of thinking about the war rather than a set of fixed doctrines. The evolution of this thinking is as dynamic as the way the world is going on at the moment. The twenty-first century cannot be compared to the era when the use of morality depended on ecclesiastical principles and authority to define what should be moral or immoral. The article is apt in telling of the different aspects that require legal backing to ensure abuse is nonexistent. However, the lack of systematic justification that morality of war is supported by principles in the first place and that legal backing offers a chance for the principles to be in use is lacking (Fotion, 2007: 112). Justification of war is difficult because the use of force against a state that cannot match the attacking army does not provide any assurance that abuse of the powers granted to those granted the mandate to deal with issues at hand.
The highlighting of the two traditions is a strength the article exhibits well because it shows the impact of having different points of view across in dealing with issues during war periods. Read More