Force may be used only after all peaceful and viable alternatives have been seriously tried and exhausted or are clearly not practical. It may be clear that the other side is using negotiations as a delaying tactic and will not make meaningful concessions.<\/p>\n

\n
1. There should be proportionality in war<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

   The anticipated benefits of waging a war must be proportionate to its expected evils or harms.<\/p>\n

   \n
   1. War must be fought for a just cause<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      The reason for going to war needs to be just and cannot therefore be solely for recapturing things taken or punishing people who have done wrong; innocent life must be in imminent danger and intervention must be to protect life.<\/p>\n

      \n
      1. War must achieve comparative justice<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

         While there may be rights and wrongs on all sides of a conflict, to overcome the presumption against the use of force, the injustice suffered by one party must significantly outweigh that suffered by the other.<\/p>\n

         \n
         1. War must be fought with the right intention<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

            Force may be used only in a truly just cause and solely for that purpose\u2014correcting a suffered wrong is considered a right intention, while material gain or maintaining economies is not.<\/p>\n

            \n
            1. In war, there must be a high probability of success<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

               Arms may not be used in a futile cause or in a case where disproportionate measures are required to achieve success;<\/p>\n

               With virtually all of these factors, the U.S. has made serious mistakes in places such as Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, Somalia and elsewhere. It\u2019s as if the Just War Theory had never been written and no one tried to learn lessons from Vietnam.<\/p>\n

               Part of the collateral damage of misguided American overseas ventures is that we bend over backwards to not associate the men and women in uniform with their missions. We want to give them a break which includes not attaching them to the foolishness of some of what they do. We would do better to help them earn their honor through purposeful missions.<\/p>\n

               Some Republicans have said that we should not discuss US policy in the wake of the tragic deaths of four soldiers. These are the same voices who are saying that we cannot discuss gun control in the wake of mass shootings.<\/p>\n

               Policy must always be on the table, regardless of gold stars, guns, or a host of other items that often prohibit us from improving the quality of life for Americans and others around the world.\u00a0 In the meantime, the U.S. should concentrate on being like the Dodgers and putting more stars in the ‘W’ column, a column that hopefully does not involve war.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

               If we needed to be re-awakened, the PBS Series \u201cThe Vietnam War\u201d reminded us that men and women who served in Vietnam were certainly<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":38035,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1383,128,1100,265],"tags":[3139,1758,1558],"yoast_head":"\n