Browsing by Subject "ethics of wars"

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    Ethical Dilemmas in War and Peace
    (Busan National University in South Korea, 2002-04-22) Andregg, Michael M.
    War confronts us with some of the most difficult ethical dilemmas in human experience. Peace is less stressful, but even maintaining the peace can be more difficult than it appears. Restoring peace once lost can be daunting, and can present the responsible citizen with moral dilemmas every bit as challenging as those faced by soldiers at war. In both circumstances, the leaders of nation states must face stark tradeoffs as they decide whom to provide with resources and who not. In the worst cases, they must decide who lives, and who dies. And of course, soldiers at war do this also, and occasionally the ordinary citizen. Then there are issues like torture, and treatment of prisoners of war, and treatment of civilian refugees, and whether to intervene in conflicts among neighbors or not, and if so, how. Each of these may seem easy in the abstract, but they are very, very difficult when the people are real and the facts of the case unclear, which is common. It takes days to discuss the nuances of such dilemmas, but the decisions of real people faced with morally difficult choices must sometimes be made in the blink of an eye. Then, they may be judged by others far away and years later. We do not have days today, so I will begin with a simple outline of the types of hard questions faced by four actors in the dramas of war and peace. They are: the soldier, the citizen, peacemakers and leaders of governments. I will consider their dilemmas in a slightly different order below. For the Soldier: 1. When is it appropriate to kill? 2. When is killing required? 3. How should I treat civilians? 4. Should I distinguish between “able bodied men” and women or children? 5. Can I distinguish between the “innocent” and the “guilty?” And whether or not I can, can landmines or a 1000-kilogram bomb? 6. How should I treat my enemies, even while killing them? 7. How should I treat POWs? [Prisoner’s of War] What if they know secrets that could save millions? 8. When is torture justified, if ever, and why? 9. When can orders be disobeyed? 10. When MUST orders be disobeyed? 11. If the laws of war contradict the orders of my leader (or my God) what should I do?
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    Why Fight? An Essay on the Morality of Wars: When to Start them, How to Fight them, and When not to
    (U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas, 2016-04) Andregg, Michael M.
    Why Fight? An Essay on the Morality of Wars: When to Start them, How to Fight them, and When Not to By Michael Andregg Original for the Army Command and General Staff College’s Ethics Symposium of April 2016 Introduction The United Nations and the body of international law that preceded and empowers it concluded that starting aggressive war is the ultimate crime because embedded in that act are derivative crimes like murder, torture, abuse of captured combatants or civilians, and in the worst cases slavery and genocide. The history of humankind has seen many worst cases, so thousands of groups of peoples that once existed do not anymore. Just war theory (JWT) is the most recognized and discussed root of such thinking, though it varies in versions and interpretation. The universally recognized legitimate reason for war is defense of the people or the state against attack by others. Since nation-states have written most of the modern rules, many are slanted toward the state and against rebellion. But war has been with us far longer than nation-states and corruption of governance is among the most important causes of the civil wars that predominate today in the Third Millennium of the Common Era. We will also pay some attention to the neglected area of when to rebel, or at least when to disobey orders, because blind obedience can empower fascism, police-states, and the universal crimes of genocide, etc. I remind American military audiences that our country was born in rebellion against unjust rule. Our “founding fathers” were all considered traitors by corrupt elites in Britain. Britain gave up being “great” when it decided to sacrifice ordinary people’s freedom in pursuit of wealth, power, and enslavement of non-British people. I remind non-Americans that this problem is universal. The sins of imperialism go back thousands of years before nation-states, and still exist today.