When is war justified
To fght back out of self- defense is Just and must be done in order to protect one’s nation from harm. A well- known example is when America was attacked by Japan at Pearl Harbor. America responded to this attack by bombing Japan and putting an end to this engagement. If America had not responded in this way, then how many more casualties would they have suffered? America’s act of self-defense revealed to Japan that they don’t want to engage in a war with America and in effect caused Japan to retreat and make peace with America. Humanitarian wars are not Justified because a nation is fighting out of political justice rather than self-defense.
The general hope of a nation fighting a humanitarian war is that the death and destruction inflicted by the war will be less than the death and destruction from not going to war. However, humanitarian wars usually cause lots of death and destruction which ultimately causes a nation to look back at themself and wonder, “Was it worth all the lives we lost in battle? ” The Vietnam War is a common reminder of a Humanitarian War that caused many eople to look back and wonder if it was worth it. Imagine if you were chosen to fight in the Vietnam War.
The thought of losing your life in a war that was fought out of national liberation would be terrifying to most. In the book, The Things They Carried, the chapter “On the Rainy River” is the perfect examination of a young man who has been drafted to fght in a war that has no clear explanation. The young man wonders how a nation can go to war and sacrifice lives without any undeniable Just cause. The young man, Tim O’Brien, thinks aloud to himself and says, “It seemed to me that when nation goes to war it must have reasonable confidence in the Justice and imperative of its cause.
You can’t fix your mistakes. Once people are dead, you cant make them undead. ” We all know that hundreds of thousands of American soldiers lost their lives in the Vietnam War, but for what cause? The loss of their lives cannot be justified undeniably, therefore proving the point that Humanitarian Wars are unjust. Throughout history it is clear that the loss of lives in a war is inevitable, but the sacrifice ot lives in a war that is tougnt to protect the nation is always Justified when e look back at it while the same cannot be said of Humanitarian Wars.
Jake Petroff reviewed my original essay and provided me lots of feedback that aided me in creating my final draft. He told me that I needed to provide more evidence to back up my argument and I did by providing texts from various pieces of literature. Jake also enhanced my knowledge of the Vietnam War by telling me facts about the war that I didn’t know prior to my conversation with him. Thanks to Jake’s feedback, I have been able to further my essay and create my final draft.
