Tue, 07/30/2024 - 4:00pm
War is Not Just
By L. Lance Boothe
Let us discuss war as it is, not as we would like it to be. Regulating war is pointless, and our time and energy would be better spent fighting war quickly, decisively, and with single-minded ruthlessness rather than fretting over ethics. Acting as if law applies to war is a foolish hinderance on its conduct. War drives toward extremes. War should go to these extremes as quickly as possible where it is fought in such a vicious manner that it persuades enemies and neutrals alike that war with us is not worth waging. After all, the victor writes history – “What I have written I have written,” the infamous Pontius Pilate declared[1] – and in so doing the narrative is established.
The justness of the cause in war depends on perspective. As the Athenians told the Melians in 416 B.C. according to Thucydides, “justice is only a factor in human decisions when the parties are on equal footing. Those in positions of power do what their power permits, while the weak have no choice but to accept it.”[2] Melian independence meant nothing to Athens. The Athenians pursued their own interests. They were justified in their own eyes. Subsequently, Athens made quick work of Melos, killing every man on the island and enslaving the rest. “History teaches us what human beings are like in reality rather than what we would like them to be,”[3] affirming Niccolo Machiavelli’s observation that “a man who wants to act virtuously in every way necessarily comes to grief among so many who are not virtuous.”[4] Likewise, “history shows that some men are willing to do evil in order to accomplish good”[5] – good, certainly as they see it, whether in pursuit of self-interest (defensive, economic, or ideological), dominating the uncivilized (bringing order to chaos), or just not being afraid to do the Lord’s work (ensuring others reap what they sow). That post-modern man[6] cannot seem to come to grips with the paradox of doing evil to achieve good demonstrates a failure in appreciating the human condition. Thus, betraying a profoundly anti-human sentiment, which seeks to alter our nature – selfish and cruel, yet altruistic and just. And when we think we are better than our ancestors and making high-minded ethical progress to alter human nature through law and social contract, the verdict of history says we are not.
https://smallwarsjournal.com/index.php/jrnl/art/war-not-just
