Politics: Yes, You Can.
Today, Tapped opines on a potentially new debate regarding the reinstatement of the draft: “The point is that one cannot object to compulsory military service solely on the basis of whether the war being fought is just or unjust.”
Yes, you can.
The very principle of just war doctrine underpins the freedom each of us have to use our consciences to determine whether or not we participate in a war. A just war, for instance, doesn’t include pre-emptive war (a just war must be fought to redress an injury, not an imaginary future injury like Iraq’s pending weapons of mass destruction creation and deployment).
If the government or nation that would be served by soldiers in a draft is committed as a matter of policy to fighting unjust wars, than it is perfectly legitimate for anyone to oppose the institution of compulsory national military service. Tapped compares the WWII draft to some future draft here. Even though history has been somewhat whitewashed, we know that the U.S. involvement — heroic, fierce and dogged — in that war came after a deadly attack. That was the wrong suffered, and our entry into WWII was our redress. Draftees in WWII were compelled to service within the framework of just war.
Today, our government has adopted as matters of policy several items which violate the just war doctrine. A just war cannot target civilians, for instance. Look at almost any action by the U.S. since the Vietnam War, and you will see standard operating procedures which involve civilians as targets. Service to these policies cannot be justified, and compulsory service cannot be accepted with these policies in place.
In the post, Tapped quotes Calpundit singing the praises of some sort of hybrid national compulsory service plan that sounds more like Americorps, the Civilian Conservation Corps or the Works Project Administration than compulsory military service. While it is quite romantic to dream that a draft could send you off to scrub graffiti in Compton or teach best practices to small business owners in Peru, the reality is that we’re involved in a war on terrorism that our leaders have set up as a war without end. When legitimate targets (like the Taliban and al Qaeda) are gone, we’ll just move on to bogus targets like Iraq and who knows who else. Just war doctrine says get who got you, and fight for peace. We've lost focus on Afghanistan and we're gearing up for war in Iraq for all the wrong reasons. Until Iraq attacks us, that war will never be just.
Today, Tapped opines on a potentially new debate regarding the reinstatement of the draft: “The point is that one cannot object to compulsory military service solely on the basis of whether the war being fought is just or unjust.”
Yes, you can.
The very principle of just war doctrine underpins the freedom each of us have to use our consciences to determine whether or not we participate in a war. A just war, for instance, doesn’t include pre-emptive war (a just war must be fought to redress an injury, not an imaginary future injury like Iraq’s pending weapons of mass destruction creation and deployment).
If the government or nation that would be served by soldiers in a draft is committed as a matter of policy to fighting unjust wars, than it is perfectly legitimate for anyone to oppose the institution of compulsory national military service. Tapped compares the WWII draft to some future draft here. Even though history has been somewhat whitewashed, we know that the U.S. involvement — heroic, fierce and dogged — in that war came after a deadly attack. That was the wrong suffered, and our entry into WWII was our redress. Draftees in WWII were compelled to service within the framework of just war.
Today, our government has adopted as matters of policy several items which violate the just war doctrine. A just war cannot target civilians, for instance. Look at almost any action by the U.S. since the Vietnam War, and you will see standard operating procedures which involve civilians as targets. Service to these policies cannot be justified, and compulsory service cannot be accepted with these policies in place.
In the post, Tapped quotes Calpundit singing the praises of some sort of hybrid national compulsory service plan that sounds more like Americorps, the Civilian Conservation Corps or the Works Project Administration than compulsory military service. While it is quite romantic to dream that a draft could send you off to scrub graffiti in Compton or teach best practices to small business owners in Peru, the reality is that we’re involved in a war on terrorism that our leaders have set up as a war without end. When legitimate targets (like the Taliban and al Qaeda) are gone, we’ll just move on to bogus targets like Iraq and who knows who else. Just war doctrine says get who got you, and fight for peace. We've lost focus on Afghanistan and we're gearing up for war in Iraq for all the wrong reasons. Until Iraq attacks us, that war will never be just.
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