The subject of war has always been interesting to me. My Dad served as a United States Marine, stationed in Okinawa, Japan, between the Korean and Vietnam conflicts. Though he never saw combat, he’s always considered a Marine to be a cut above the Army, Navy and Air Force and will probably insist that Semper Fi be carved into the lid of his casket.
I grew up in the cold war, believing that the Carter administration had left us vulnerable to a potential Soviet attack and being thankful for the arms buildup under Reagan. I remember watching on TV, January 20, 1981, as a senior in high school as the Iran hostages were released just 20 minutes after Reagan’s inauguration, ostensibly as a result of the incoming president’s promise to secure the hostages’ release from Tehran, via the United States military. The biblical doctrine of Just War is one that I still hold believing it to be a valid interpretation.
The struggle that I have had since September 11, 2001, is that although the scripture allows for just war, all wars are fought by humans many of whom are not just and those who’d like to be are not necessarily equipped to lead nations or armies. What should be the position of a Christian who’s country has the biblical basis for either attacking or defending yet the leaders are either not believers or are incompetent? How do we know that when Jesus said, “Love your enemies,” he was not referring to political enemies? Believers in Jesus really should be careful when we cede to political entities and political leaders the right to determine who our enemies are or should be. Did Jesus not shed His blood for Afghan warlords as well as American school kids? One of the more thought provoking lines I’ve heard lately was this: When Jesus said, “Love your enemies,” He probably meant don’t kill them. I’ve always thought, based on Ephesians 6, that those who “despised, persecuted and hated” me were not the enemy, but victims of the Enemy.
Recently, I ran across full video of Academy Award winning director Errol Morris’ excellent documentary, The Fog of War. The entire 107 minute movie is based on the actions of Robert McNamara in his role as Secretary of Defense during the Vietnam War, including events from his life leading up to that time. It is worth watching even if you have to break it up into several sections.
In a very thought provoking sequence, McNamara ponders the fire bombing of Tokyo in which 100,000 civilians died in a single night (March 9-10, 1945). He insists that General Curtis LeMay’s thinking along with his own planning led to the fire bombing. Approximately 67 Japanese cities were bombed in the same way, many of them more than 50% destroyed along with substantial loss of life. The facts of the raid, though, are not what caught my ear. It was McNamara’s admission that had the U.S. lost the war, that he and LeMay would likely have been prosecuted as war criminals. Quoting McNamara, “He, and I’d say I, were behaving as war criminals.”
Then has asks the unanswered question, “What makes it immoral if you lose and not immoral if you win?”
Indeed.
I thought that, as believers, we were being held to a higher standard, a standard, in fact, that reflects the ethics of the Kingdom of God. I’m not saying that I have answers about Just War or war in general, but I do have many more questions that I once did.
Good thoughtful post. I did 2 combat tours in Viet Nam. I too have lots of questions concerning a just war. And not many answers. And the longer the Iraq war goes on the more questions float in my brain. I support the war still, because we have soldiers there. But, I am really conflicted.
However, for me, I would hesitate in listening to anything McNamara says. He wrote in his biography that he knew that the war was unwinnable even when he was Sec of Def, but lacked the courage to say so. Of course, now that he gets paid for writing, he feels he can admit his cowardice … for a price. That to me is the greater war crime.
Comment by Tom Bryant — June 28, 2008 @ 8:41 am
I agree there is, in theory at least, the possibility of conducting a “just war,” but can you give me a legitimate, irrefutable recent example. (Recent as in the last 50 years or so; and don’t say the “war on terror” which is actually a war *of* terror)
Whether or not war leaders are believers is irrelevant (Whose side is God on? haha). Incompetence, I think, is a given. If I kill you in a war–I’m competent; if you kill me–I’m incompetent! War is chaos and “war is hell”(Sherman), and there’s nobody righteous enough or competent enough to keep that from being true.
Peel away the patriotic blather and you will find, generally, that war is a for-profit business–profit for some, loss for others. Generally, the wealthy promote and fund the wars and profit from them, while the (relatively) poor fight the wars and are the losers(My widowed secretary’s Vietnam-vet husband died in a U.S. hospital at age 35 from agent orange poisoning.) How many rich guys do you see on the battlefield, in the trenches, carrying a rifle?
War is expensive. War is business. Somebody has to pay for it. The biggest expense, I believe, is the investment of our sons & daughters. I thank God for every soldier and for our military machine that is DEFENDING us from all the goofballs in the world that want to hurt us. But it grieves me when good men and women with good intentions become the pawns of racketeers and hucksters in suits who are just out to make a buck at their expense.
As a kid, when my teachers tried to negotiate playground wars at school they always seemed to concern themselves with the issue of justice by asking “who started it,” and why.
A just war is one where if you mess with me, my family, or my friends, we’re gonna fight and I’ll kick your ass; otherwise I’ll leave you alone and agree to disagree. I love you in Jesus’ name.
An unjust war is one that somebody else starts.
Btw, I’ve got my bottle rockets ready.
Comment by Chuck Nation — June 28, 2008 @ 9:21 am
There has been a lot of discussion on ‘just war’. Yeah, there is such a thing- no, Iraq is not an example of one. Afghanistan is. We caused their problems by funding maniacs like Osama back in the 80’s and we owed it to them to go in a clean up our mess. The result is that Afg is now open to the gospel and many are coming to faith. You know a tree by its fruit. Iraq was not a threat to us WMD or no. We attacked it unprovoked for reasons that I do not comprehend. The result is a country where the gospel can hardly get in and penetrate. Many are trying at great personal costs. But the truth is we have shut that door for now. God will open it again and we had better be ready to move but in the meantime I am praying that our leaders make better decisions. I am thankful for America and I am a patriot but I much more concerned with the Kingdom of God and its conquest of earth. I look forward to the announcement from the 7th angel in Rev 11 when he cries out that the kingdoms of this world have become the Kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ.
Comment by Strider — June 28, 2008 @ 11:38 am
Guys,
I had a lengthy response composed to each and forgot to enter the stupid code. I’m going to have to try again later.
Shoot.
Comment by Marty Duren — June 28, 2008 @ 2:10 pm
Tom-
I had forgotten about your tours in ‘Nam. When were you there and what were your responsibilities?
Chuck-
I’m already on the run.
Strider-
Always good to hear from Middle Earth. Can you expand a little on how we owed it to Afghanistan to go in and clean up the mess?
Comment by Marty Duren — June 28, 2008 @ 7:22 pm
Marty,
I was there between late 70 and Feb/73. I was mostly on a fire base training various tribal groups to fight. (‘yards and hmong) It was basically like the forts in the old west… only not as successful :-) especially when the US left them high and dry with the peace accords.
Enjoy your break.
Comment by Tom Bryant — June 30, 2008 @ 7:38 am
Well, basically then as now our state dept knows next to nothing about culture or anthropology. We wanted to give the Russians a bloody nose in the 80’s- and they deserved it as well- so we funded so called freedom fighters. But we purposely funded the most outrageous guys we could find. There were more moderate guys to fund- but we chose guys like Osama not thinking at all about what would happen after the war was over. After it was over the country completely disintegrated- kinda like what will happen to Iraq when we finally leave. There are a lot of guys who wanted Afghanistan to lose and they stepped up and made it happen. Masood took Kabul and began eliminating Hazaras. Then Hikmatyr came in and bombed Kabul- something even the Russians did not do. Then Masood was forced out by the Taliban. Our brilliant state dept. boys were still hard at work and they saw the Taliban as an opportunity to stabilize the country so they backed them with all the foresight they have always shown. The Taliban brought peace to Afghanistan with the sword but Masood and his boys continued to fight and kept 10% free in the north. Finally, we decided to side with the Russians and both governments backed the northern alliance and Masood keeping them alive but never giving them enough to win. Saudi, Iran, and Pakistan backed the Taliban and Russia, the US, and Iran backed the northern alliance- yes, I said Iran twice they have always done this even as they are doing it now in Iraq. This placed Afghanistan in a permanent civil war with no way for either side to win. Then God stepped in. Osama orchestrated the 9/11 attacks and this forced the US to go in a clean up. We offered the support to the Northern alliance they needed and the Taliban were defeated- in Afghanistan. Masood was killed on 9/9 two days before the attacks which was likely a judgment of God on him for his treatment of the Hazaras.
At this point our administration completely lost all reason and attacked Iraq instead of finishing the job they started.
That then is Central Asian history according to Strider.
Comment by Strider — June 30, 2008 @ 6:30 pm