The moral calculus of war
Hehir, J. Bryan
a rare confluence of American and Israeli interests. It was, for many Jews, one of those moments when one's oft-tangled loyalties seem to shake out nicely into a consistent world view. Certainly,...
...How should a more disciplined debate be framed...
...But this desire also can erode restraints on the means of war...
...J.J...
...The why or just-cause category surfaced first in August-September...
...GOLDBERG J.J...
...Particularly for those who found some just cause, the question was whether the conditions existed to move from just cause to justified use of force--a second issue...
...The implications are twofold: the policy must be opposed and persons in the war effort should be encouraged to cease and desist, because they are involved in an immoral enterprise...
...But two limits must be set: first, there can be no relaxing on the limit of not striking civilian centers directly...
...No one polled the Jews...
...The moral case on means is about drawing lines, based either on the intrinsic nature of certain actions, or on more consequentialist grounds of proportionality and maintaining precedents that seek to keep war marginally rational...
...Crucial to the discussion (November to January) were the criteria of last resort and proportionality...
...At this stage of the war, my judgment is: just but unwise, and just only if the means meet the tests of discrimination and proportionality...
...In the Vietnam war people from all sides used its categories without necessarily knowing where they came from...
...Resisting the Iraqi invasion across an internationally recognized border does qualify, as does the initial U.S...
...To close the argument far too quickly, my judgment is that it was right to press the when criteria, but I do not believe the moral weight of the case compels a judgment of unjust today...
...Tank warfare and desert warfare promise a Bismarckian war of blood and iron...
...Why not...
...Two kinds of reasons: the weight of the when criteria and the consequences of declaring the war to be unjust in terms ofjus ad bellum...
...It begins with a presumption against the use of force and then admits the possibility of justifiable exceptions to the presumption...
...In the 1980s the ethical arguments about discrimination and proportionality entered the nuclear debate with new power...
...I argued then and still believe that just cause can be identified in this case, but not all reasons put forth by the administration over the last six months qualify as just cause for this war...
...A third position, the one I would affirm, acknowledged just cause, sought to prevent the use of force through the when criteria, and now (after January 17) must confront whether the moral weight of the when arguments necessarily lead to the position declaring the war unjust in principle...
...Since war has begun, the why and when questions have produced three different positions from which to address U.S...
...The extensive use of the just-war ethic is striking...
...Similarly, the judgment about last resort is by definition open to prudential calculations about what is possible, what is wise, and when have all efforts been exhausted...
...effort to deter aggression against Saudi Arabia...
...Reports surfaced around the country of Jews who had been wavering or antiwar, but now suddenly found themselves in favor of "eliminating Saddam...
...He may well use chemical and biological warfare...
...But the argument does not end there...
...But while hawks said Saddam Hussein would threaten Israel as long as he retained power, many doves said the best way to stop him from attacking Israel was not to attack him...
...On January 17, if asked, I would have maintained that force should not be used...
...The function of just-war categories, which the president explicitly used, is not primarily to legitimate the policy of states, but to limit their proclivity to reach for the weapons of war...
...3. Deterrence and reprisal: Saddam Hussein has already shown himself capable of breaching taboos built patiently over many years...
...Frequent studies have shown this to be a central feature in the American Jewish self-image...
...American public opinion shifted suddenly on January 16, when the war began...
...The same criticism can be raised about Basra but it is a harder case to make on proportionality grounds...
...the 33 Jewish members split 18-15 against the measure...
...Synagogues around the country report record attendance...
...It may be that, pace Pat Buchanan, Jews are indeed nearly unanimous now...
...Reports--not just from the Iraqi government--attest that civilian casualties are occurring in significant numbers...
...I do believe the policy should be both criticized and constrained on the (always debatable) proportionality grounds...
...From a near-even split, America now backed the president by threetoone...
...53 126: Commonweal...
...And for vast numbers of American Jews, Israel is just not a touchstone in judging U.S...
...Anecdotally, though, it seems the greatest shift among Jews occurred on January 17, when the first Iraqi Scuds fell on Tel Aviv...
...Thus, what appears to be Jewish near-unanimity may simply indicate that Jews are withdrawing among themselves---even if it means sharing a berth with the likes of "Gandhi...
...The public saliency of the discrimination principle is attested to by the concern that official briefers show in demonstrating that both choice of targets and rules of engagement for pilots are designed not to hit civilians directly...
...In the moral argument about war, the why question is restrained by when questions...
...The facts need to be scrutinized, but they lead me to question whether continual strikes near civilian areas, particularly Baghdad, are proportionate...
...I have seen nothing in the public record to dispute these two claims...
...How is a justifiable exception identified...
...policy...
...In my view the following qualify as serious issues, but not just causes for war: access to oil, preventing nuclear proliferation, establishing a balance of power in the Middle East, and Iraq's human rights r~cord...
...In defending the Gulf war, the president invoked the right questions, but gave answers that have the ring of a stump speech...
...This moral teaching is regularly declared to be moribund, but it keeps cropping up in our public life...
...Now the Persian Gulf policy has brought to the center of public attention the "standard case" of just-war analysis: can aggression be met today in a way that passes moral evaluation...
...Now many see themselves as under attack for their opinions...
...1. Combatant vs...
...Hence the air war is the preferred tactic on several grounds...
...Unlike George Bush, Walzer has not only asked the moral questions but argued the moral case...
...The argument for "economizing vlolence"--the quickest end with the least aggregate number of deaths---can easily collapse the distinction of civilians and combatants...
...First, the weight of the moral case: proportionality is by definition a consequentialist argument, always open to further debate...
...as the air war proceeds there are, in my view, reasons to criticize aspects of the bombing policy on proportionality grounds...
...The United States on both intrinsic and utilitarian grounds should resist any temptation to break the taboo of biological, chemical, and nuclear warfare...
...Goldberg is New York correspondent of the Jerusalem Report...
...I argued in these pages against resort to force because of the likelihood of a disproportionate war and the consequent need to 22 February 1991:125 honor last resort stringently...
...The public debate, going on since August, can be tested in terms of these three questions...
...The justification I find for it is limited, conditioned by my dissatisfaction with the way last resort was pursued...
...For years most Jews believed themselves to be at home in America and protected from bigotry...
...I do not draw that conclusion...
...The debate here moves toward questions like responding in kind or upping the ante to tactical nuclear weapons...
...Others, in both the Protestant and Catholic communities, have either not found grounds for either why or when, or have acknowledged just cause, found the when categories unmet, and, therefore, concluded that the enterprise of the war is unjust in principle...
...policy...
...All need to be addressed, but none justify going to war to accomplish these objectives...
...Justifiable exceptions must, by the force of moral reasoning, override the presumption...
...WORLD WATCH J. Bryan Hehir THE MORAL CALCULUS OF WAR JUST BUT UNWISE he public debate about the Persian Gulf war is filled with moral claims...
...Even Jewish peace groups that were part of antiwar coalitions backed away, with few exceptions...
...Certainly, most Jews were united in fearing for Israel's safety...
...There are other aspects of proportionality that raise to the surface the tensions over choices of means...
...Some, like Michael Walzer, have produced a moral argument based on why and when that finds the use of force meeting both criteria...
...All over the country, Jewish doves say they have seen an unprecedented outpouring of antiIsrael and outright anti-Semitic sentiment in recent weeks...
...Big powers---especially those interested in creating "new orders"--must resume responsibilities that limit freedom of action in the name of shaping the rules by which all states live...
...Are the risks of civilian casualties now justified by the worth of targets being struck for the third or fourth time...
...and how is force to be used, by what means...
...In brief, I do not have evidence to indict the bombing policy on discrimination grounds...
...George Bush has declared the war to be just, but this is the beginning of an argument not its necessary conclusion...
...To quote Walzer against me: "You never really reach the point of last resort, because you can always call another conference...
...This combination of Iraqi Scuds and antiwar anti-Semitism appears to have had an incalculable impact on Jews of every persuasion...
...when can it be used, under which conditions...
...and second, even at Basra, where proportionality would tolerate unintended civilian deaths from attacks on legitimately targeted military objectives, the principle still imposes strict limits on the risks to be taken with civilian lives...
...Just cause by itself is not a sufficient reason to resort to force...
...The principles of discrimination and proportionality always take on major importance in an air war that is both highly technological and capable of going directly to another society's resources and population...
...2. End the war and civilian casualties: In spite of differences on moral grounds, everyone wants the conflict over as quickly as possible...
...In a sense I fmd myself concurring with Anthony Lewis's conclusion in the New York Times: just but unwise...
...in spite of my when arguments of the autumn, I am not prepared to declare the entire war unjust purely and simply...
...After the November deployment of troops to the Gulf, the debate shifted from the why to the when question...
...By asking three questions: why can force be used, for what purpose...
...Obviously cases exist when this dual judgment should be made...
...On January 12 the House of Representatives voted 250-183 to authorize the use of military force in the Gulf...
...Are repeated strikes near civilian centers really necessary for military objectives or are they now psychological punishment...
...The reasons are primarily the combatant casualties on both sides...
...As Leslie Gelb wrote in the New York Times, George Bush may be faced with the choice of retaliating in kind or maintaining "the moral high ground," at the cost of American lives...
...I had and have my ongoing doubts about the moral worth of war as the means to address Iraq, but I know that such a judgment, especially made a priori, as I did, is open to differing conclusions...
...This assessment, based on intrinsic moral reasoning, is then reinforced by the consequence of judging a war "unjust in principle...
...The logic of the just-war case is strikingly simple...
...civilian casualties: There are very good reasons to try to avoid a ground war in Kuwait...
...The assessments must be continuous and the conclusions are inherently fragile...
...In any case, the argument now shifts to the how questions of evaluating the means of the conflict...
...Given that I find some basis for just cause, and aware of the prudential and consequentialist character of my when arguments, I do not find the war "unjust" on jus ad bellum grounds...
Vol. 118 • February 1991 • No. 4
