The Morality of War

We are not fighting the same war we started when we invaded Iraq. Bush speaks of victory, as if it was a possible outcome. We have already lost the war we started. Now, as best I can tell, we are fighting to get out without making our exit cause even more problems than if we stay.

There is a moral dimension to any war. I would argue that the war is and was imoral. There are some who argue that our intentions of removing a mass murderer and promoting democracy were moral. Even if we grant purity of intentions, this is shallow moral reasoning. We should judge morality in three dimensions -- intentions, means and consequences -- and this war fails on the last two counts. Imagine that I offer to drive your child home after a party. I ignore the slick road conditions, drive too fast, skid off the road and your child is killed. I can plead good intentions of trying to get your child home quickly, but by my neglect of appropriate means and the full range of possible consequences produces a catastrophe that is not excusable even if I had good intentions. To defend this (or any future war) on the basis of the moral clarity of our intentions is impoverished one-dimensional moral reasoning. Whatever the president's motives, his inadequate attention to means and the full range possible consequences makes this an unjust and immoral war.

We are diminished as a great nation by waging an immoral war.