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thedrifter
11-22-07, 04:35 AM
Be thankful our soldiers are fighting a ‘just war’

Kevin McGhee, The Examiner
2007-11-22 08:00:00.0
Current rank: # 93 of 11,454
BALTIMORE -

As we pause around our Thanksgiving tables, remember we are still a nation at war. One soldier recently expressed it more clearly: We are a nation whose military is at war. The brave few sacrifice everything so that the rest of us can go about our lives in peace and freedom. While many of our troops are caught in the real fire of combat, they are all caught in the crossfire of angry words back home.

The war remains a polarizing element in our life together. Should America have gone to war? Isn't it time to bring the troops home? Is it OK to interrogate a terrorist to the point of torture to save the lives of the innocent? Most Americans have opinions. Few understand that questions like these have been around in one form or another for thousands of years.

Both sides of the debate claim to have God informing their point of view — whether the strident rhetoric of those on the poles of the religious right and left or the more tempered, but equally angry, views of the new “Red-letter Christians,” who claim to have adopted the words of Jesus himself as their guide. They espouse a view that all war is inherently immoral.

Nearly 800 years ago, St. Thomas Aquinas wrote the “Summa Theologica,” which outlined what many today call the “Just War theory” to fashion a Christian response to the evil in our world that is revealed in disputes between nations. Aquinas taught that war might be fought justly if it is the only means to restrain evil. Those principles have heavily influenced the laws of warfare from the time of their writing up to the Geneva Conventions. Embedded in Aquinas' ancient work are some very important principles that could surely raise the level of our national debate.

Those on the political right who supported the war from its beginning would have been well-served to more deeply reflect on whether the threat posed by Saddam Hussein was likely to be “lasting, grave, and certain; whether all other means of putting an end to the threat had been shown to be impractical or ineffective; and whether there existed a serious prospect of success.”

Perhaps wrestling with these issues would have forced our national leadership to more carefully articulate its reasoning for going to war — It was about much more than finding the still-missing WMDs — and also perhaps would have led to more realistic assessments of the cost of success in the aftermath of Saddam.

Those on the political left even have more to gain from Aquinas' history lesson. Those Americans now serving in Iraq and Afghanistan know they have to be careful to limit who they target and how much force they use. Many American soldiers have died sacrificial deaths because our nation chooses to abide by these timeless principles. The U.S. military has unlimited power for waging war, yet today chooses to fight house to house to limit casualties among innocent civilians. Our terrorist enemies, who specifically target the innocent, follow no such rules. This week, three American soldiers were killed, along with a number of Iraqi children, when a suicide bomber attacked them while the soldiers were distributing toys.

Just like their grandfathers who stopped Hitler, today's American soldiers, sailors and Marines understand that some enemies must be stopped. It is important that all Americans recognize the distinction between an enemy that willingly sends a suicide bomber into a crowd of children and our own countrymen who willingly lay down their lives to protect them. Is the Iraq war a “just war”?

Let that debate continue — but let us be thankful for those who will risk their lives today to ensure that on one side, at least, it will be fought justly — with courage and sacrifice that deserve our respect and our thanksgiving.

Kevin McGhee is a senior pastor at Bethany Community Church and 1978 graduate of the United States Naval Academy. He can be reached at kmcghee@baltimoreexaminer.com

Ellie