Just War Theory: When U.S. Interventions Become Piracy in the Caribbean and Beyond
The Pirate of the Caribbean
The “Pirate of the Caribbean”! What’s the difference between Donald Trump and a pirate? Easy one! One walks the plank; the other talks it.
JPB
From Lawfire
A just war is an act of last resort. Prior to engaging in violence, a nation must make every effort to attain its intended goals by other means. This might include diplomacy, economic or legal actions, and so forth. This is a crucial tenet of just war theory: war results from the failure of all other options. It is not one option among many. As an extension of this idea, the government should seek to end the conflict as quickly as is reasonably possible.
“Just War” versus “Just a War”
As a boy, my brother, Gary, Mom and Dad gathered around the kitchen table to listen to a cassette audio tape from our cousin Neal, a soldier in Vietnam. What happened to the ten-speed bicycle riding cousin who was now a voice telling about walking through rice paddies in Vietnam? How did he get there? When will he come home? As a boy, I didn’t understand the toll paid by our soldiers so far away, which would scar a generation. Hopefully, lessons learned behind those distant recorded words will spare us from the conflicts that will haunt the next generation of young soldiers.
“A Little Conflict Never Killed Nobody”
Politicians love the word conflict. Unlike war, it requires no approval of Congress with all the military-industrial benefits of a real war. Unfortunately, conflicts that begin as self-righteous crusades result in self-inflicted casualties. The Vietnam “conflict” exacted an enormous cost: estimates of Vietnamese soldiers and civilians killed range from 970,000 to 3 million. Some 275,000–310,000 Cambodians, 20,000–62,000 Laotians, and 58,220 US service members died.
Conflict: Easy to get in. Hard to get out.
In my MBA program one professor taught us how to evaluate a course of action:
- Do I want to do this?
- Can I do this?
- Easy to get in. Hard to get out.
How many of us have volunteered for a job for a “few months,” only to find we are still on the committee years later? That’s “Easy in. Hard out.” Nations of unjust wars must guard against being trapped in the battered-spouse repeated cycle of generational militarized violence. War, and the whitewashed conflicts—aka war-lite—are more addictive and costly to the U.S. than any drug ever created by cartels.
The U.S. military justified blowing up small boats in the Caribbean and killing survivors clinging to burning flotsam by stating the boats were transporting cocaine to the U.S. The reality is these boats were likely not headed toward the U.S., rather another country, with proof of cargo and crime lacking. How is administering a death sentence for a possible crime a “just war”? If this practice is not a “just war,” what is it?
What's the difference between a cocaine dealer and a Wall Street banker? Easy one! One makes cocaine for a dollar. The other takes cocaine with a dollar.
That’s “Easy in. Hard out.” Nations of unjust wars must guard against being trapped in the battered-spouse repeated cycle of generational militarized violence. War, and the whitewashed conflicts—aka war-lite—are more addictive and costly to the U.S. than any drug ever created by cartels.
JPB
Hubris shouts, “We answer to no one. We worship the battlefield god of our own destiny.” Reality raises a desperate hand for a tossed life preserver from allies whom we have forsaken as we launched a misguided course toward the dark shoals of our own destruction.
JPB
A Last Resort
“Only if all peaceful methods fail” is the first requirement of “Just War.” This guards against the “It’s just a war” groupthink that that politicians use to drop us in the next foxhole of unending conflict. Hubris says, “We won’t have any casualties. We’ll get in and get out to show those commies who’s the boss!” Reality ships home the trauma of our own unexpected casualties of those who laid down their lives for reasons unknown to the soldier and citizen alike. Hubris shouts, “We answer to no one. We worship the battlefield god of our own destiny.” Reality raises a desperate hand for a tossed life preserver from allies whom we have forsaken as we launched a misguided course toward the dark shoals of our own destruction.
Turn from evil and do good;
seek peace and pursue it. - Psalm 34:14
Peace is Our Mission,
JPB
Postscript
The king who demands absolute loyalty without question knows his troops won’t trade lives for lies.
JPB