Today, on NBC's "Meet the Press," Tim Russert asked Vice President Dick Cheney if, knowing as we do now that Saddam Hussein had no Weapons of Mass Destruction, would the Bush administration still have gone ahead with the Iraq war. I found the Vice President's response troubling:
“He’d done it [created WMD] before,” Cheney said. “He had produced chemical weapons before and used them. He had produced biological weapons. He had a robust nuclear program in ’91.”
The U.S. invasion “was the right thing to do, and if we had to do it again, we would do exactly the same thing,” he said.
In other words, in the lead-up to the Iraq war, when the Bush adminstration was stating what Saddam Hussein needed to do to avoid the war, there was no way they would have accepted any action on Hussein's part as having fulfilled that demand. There was no threat of attack by Iraq against the United States. Iraq was not supporting Al Qaeda, and in fact considered them a danger.
They simply wanted Saddam Hussein gone because he might, at some time in the future, pose a threat.
Anyone care to comment on how this would relate to the Christian concept of a "Just War?" Anyone remember what Pope John Paul II said about this Iraq war, even before it was widely and definitively known that Iraq did not have any WMDs at all?
I’m not a theologian and can’t speak with any great authority regarding the “Just War” theory. However, I do know that both John Paul and then Cardinal Ratzinger were quite vocal regarding war with Iraq in 2003, with JP calling it a “a defeat for humanity which could not be morally or legally justified” and Ratzinger questioning whether or not there could even be a Just War “given the new weapons that make possible destructions that go beyond the combatant groups.”
Okay, I’ve just spent the last 45 minutes looking for this great cartoon that Steve Bell of the Guardian did regarding Blair’s meeting with the Pope right before the war, but, alas, as it was over three years ago I can’t seem to find it online. It went along the lines of the Pope holding Tony by the ears and saying something like “making war to make peace is like shagging to be chaste” or something like that…
D’oh, I forgot to close the tag after “questioning whether or not there could even be a Just War” Sorry!!
Michelle,
I fixed it. With 3 URLs, the comment got sucked into moderation, just as a precaution. No offense intended. If I leave a comment with 3 URLs, I get put in moderation, too! Strange, actually, but eh?
[...] Rob at UnSpace asks an interesting question. He wonders if the following quote from Dick Cheney clashes with just war theory.“He’d done it [created WMD] before,” Cheney said. “He had produced chemical weapons before and used them. He had produced biological weapons. He had a robust nuclear program in ’91.”The U.S. invasion “was the right thing to do, and if we had to do it again, we would do exactly the same thing,” he said.In other words, even if the intelligence had indicated no WMD, it would have been right to invade anyhow. As Rob points out, such a statement casts doubt on Bush’s sincerity when he claimed to be pursuing every diplomatic option to avoid war. Does it also make the way unjust? Did we have sufficient moral reason or obligation to depose Hussein? John Paul II didn’t seem to think so, even before the intelligence was found to be faulty. What do you think? [...]
No offence taken at all! I’m just glad you could fix it!
Definitely keeping you and your family in my prayers.
I think it’s a very interesting admission on Cheney’s part. I’m not sure a policitican would ever address the concept of “just war” because it’s a fairly black or white concept, in my opinion, as are most Christian principles. It’s right or wrong, it’s not maybe. I always agreed with John Paul II’s assertion that this war does not fall under “just war”. But simply, the administration wanted to unseat Hussein. That was their goal.
Peace is not a political goal, truly, and despite religious affilitation, politicians feel they look weak when they follow their religious values in their public life.
So, in answer to your question, I never thought it was a just war, and I think this is just more evidence of that. I’m not a theologian, either, but I did a bit of reading way beack when this all started. I’m also not a pacifist, I think there are limited conflicts that satisfy the “just war” criteria. Sorry to be so long in my comment about this!