Monday, July 31, 2006

Israel v. Lebanon

Well chaps, it seems that this conflict is into extra-time and show no signs of ending soon.
I thought I would just run over the Just War doctrine with anybody who is still sympathetic to the Israeli cause:

A war can only be waged as a last resort.
A war is just only it is waged by legitimate authority.
A war can only be fought to redress a wrong suffered (for example self defense) and must be waged with "right" intentions.
A war can only be fought if it is fought with a reasonable chance of success.
The violence use in the war must be proportional to the injury suffered.
The weapons used must discriminate between combatants and non-combatants. Civilians are never permissable targets of war.

If a proposed war fits all these criteria, it is said to be just.
In red are the criteria that Israel have not met.
In green are the factors that would debatably allow their war (along with the others)
In blue is arguable either way.

You can draw our own conclusions.

No comments: