As a Christian considering whether or not war is just in Iraq or any war for that matter is a complex question that requires more than a yes or no answer. Looking at the teachings of Jesus, we are taught to forgive, love our enemies and to exemplify pacifism. One of the earliest examples of a Christian leader struggling with the just war theory was St. Augustine.

It was hard for him to fathom justification for using armed forces even taking into consideration there were enemies who were intent on eradicating Rome and Christianity. What was his response to this quandary you might ask? His answer was, “a ruler owes his people the duty of protection, thus wars of self-defense are morally permissible. But a ruler’s intent in ordering such wars should only be love for his people and have nothing to do with such deadly sins as hatred, anger, bloodlust, or greed."  (Orend, 2007)

Many of those in opposition to the war in Iraq completely refuse to accept that Saddam Hussein was an evil dictator. Saddam had defied the world, attacked every bordering country except Syria, murdered 30,000 political opponents and 350,000 Shia’s and Kurds, led over a million of his countrymen to their death in ill-conceived and miscalculated wars, and that someday, he would have to give account. When did we allow the blurring of good and evil?

In the words of LTC Steve Russell who commanded the unit that helped detain Saddam Hussein expounds on this saying, “the notion that our national policy in Iraq is wrong, that Iraq was better off under Saddam and that this war makes us less secure as a nation is a dangerous one. That would be to embrace the notion that evil is good and good is evil; that is was wrong to remove a dictator that killed hundreds of thousands of people and oppressed millions; that the prevention of the further slaughter of masses of human beings was evil; that Saddam’s use of poison gasses to slaughter innocents was somehow good; that his development of a nuclear program was somehow good; and that the bloodshed by terrorists and Saddam’s henchmen is somehow on our hands. That being the case, then it would be wrong to have a responsible Iraq in the world community of nations and to have the Arab and Kurdish citizens break free from decades of tyranny and advance along the lines of Kuwait, Jordan, and Oman. I am at a complete loss to understand this twisted version of ethical standards by which good and evil are reversed."  (Russell, 2007)

Another contention of why the war in Iraq was not just is because weapons of mass destruction were not found. This is a fallacy largely played out by the media and in the words of a defected Iraqi General Georges Sadas says that, “The Americans who know what actually happened in Iraq and how Saddam managed to hide these weapons, have not as yet been willing to speak publicly, about the WMDs and what became of them. As a result, those who oppose the war in Iraq have dominated media accounts, claiming they never existed."  (Sadas, 2006)

Even in a speech in 2003 by President Bill Clinton gave a glancing admittance that Saddam had these weapons saying, “People can quarrel with whether we should have more troops in Afghanistan or internationalize Iraq or whatever, but it is incontestable that on the day I left office, there were an unaccounted for stocks of biological and chemical weapons.” (Sadas, 2006)

Although the UN had destroyed a large supply of weapons between 1991 and 2003, they were not completely destroyed and in the words of Sada, “I can assure you they never got them all.” (Sadas, 2006)

 What remained were the plans, raw materials, shells, rockets, and grenades. According to Sada, even Saddam had a notion that an American invasion was inevitable and that a plan had to be in place to destroy, hide, or remove the WMDs. By a fluke of nature, a natural disaster occurred in Syria, which provided a perfect cover for the removal of these weapons out of the country.

Much of the justification for the Iraq war does not get to the American public because the “drive-by media” we are subjected to only airs the stories that have the most entertainment value, which will garner the best ratings. A perfect example of this is in the book, “The Terrorist Watch: Inside the Desperate Race to Stop the Next Attack,” by Ronald Kessler that includes an interview with FBI agent George Piro.

This interview discussed the debriefing Piro had with Saddam disclosing his intention of restarting the weapons of mass destruction program within a year and it included plans to develop nuclear weapons. The details of the debriefing provide a very clear picture to what Saddam’s true intentions were but the media never aired it. Only history will truly detail the justification for the war in Iraq and vindicate the Bush administration for his actions.

ARTICLE HERE

WORKS CITED

Ron Kessler. The Terrorist Watch: Inside the Desperate Race to Stop the Next Attack. New York: Crown Forum, 2007.

Georges Sadas. Saddams Secrets. Brentwood: Integrity Publishers, 2006.

LTC Steve Russell. "Should We Be in Iraq." In  Victory Rally at Florida State University held in Gainesville, April 9, 2007, :.

Brian Orend. "When Is War Justifiable?." Military History 24, no. 7 (October 2007).

The next presidential administration is going to face extraordinary challenges that will require not only proper planning but also a great amount of resolve. Our country is under attack by Islamic extremists whose main objective is to see the destruction of the West and the ideals of liberty. Terrorism by extremists still poses a major threat in the world in the ongoing global war on terrorism. America's borders are still porous and past solutions offered to remedy the crisis have had minimal effect at best, which affects our economy and national sovereignty. The other major factor that we have to deal with is relations among other nations, which will increase the capacity to allow freer trade to boost the global economy. By taking these challenges head on from day one of the administration, we can ensure that America will be a secure and prosperous nation that we can proudly relinquish to the next generation.

Global war on terrorism remains the most vital threat to our national security, which will require competent planning and remaining vigilant in order to secure democracy. One important task is to secure relations in the Middle East with moderate governments that will help fight extremism. The best perspective to employ with our potential allies is stressing the inherent desires of all humans to enjoy freedom and liberty without the subjection of tyranny and persecution. Fostering fruitful relationships that share the same ideals will create the environment needed to combat Islamic extremism, which will require face-to-face meetings not institutions as it was done in the past.

Every remedy offered to solve the illegal immigration problem has essentially been putting a band-aid on the problem while not addressing the root cause of the problem. If you leave a block of cheese in your kitchen you can expect mice, if you put out a trap (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) only a few will be deterred but many will still come for the cheese, if you strengthen the entries into the kitchen (border fence) they will find a way around it, but if we were to take the cheese away they will not have the desire to come any more. Effectively the largest reason for people coming to our country illegally is out of desperation due to extreme poverty.

Trade agreements such as NAFTA have increased the amount of Mexican imports from $40 billion to about $200 billion but the share of this wealth has gone to Mexico's richest 10 percent while the poorest 10 percent income has dropped significantly. The Mexican elite have monopolies and oligopolies on every sector of business. The driving factor for Mexicans coming to America is the repressive poverty where an average Mexican worker makes around $1 dollar a day. The ideal of America investing in correcting the main cause of illegal immigration would stem the flow and cause workers to want to return to Mexico for good. The US should do more to break up the stranglehold on Mexican businesses and take an example from the rebuilding of Iraq, which provided microloans to stimulate small business and get the Mexican economy back on the rebound.

With these vast challenges, America must be the role model as well, which requires adhering to conservative fiscal policies, limit governments influence in society and preserve the principles of democracy. America has seen great challenges in the past and has done well but it will take another ingenious leader to harness the most out of their people to guarantee this accomplishment.