Terrorism and `just war'

Christian Century, Nov 14, 2001 by Martin L. Cook, Glen Stassen, Jean Bethke Elshtain, James Turner Johnson

TO SOME DEGREE, the ideological and religious beliefs that underlie al-Qaeda's terrorism lie beyond the reach of our power. The central object of attack cannot, therefore, be the ideology; it can only be the organization, funding and communication that give those ideas practical effect. Occasionally, those elements will be amenable to direct conventional military attack; more often, attack upon them will be covert, monetary and legal. In short, this will be a war in which the public military aspects of the conflict may well be a relatively small proportion of the effort.

The "right intention" element of just war has important implications in this conflict as well. Mere revenge is not a worthy or morally acceptable motive for our military efforts. Classically, the legitimate end of war is a restoration of the status quo ante, the situation as it existed before the conflict commenced. What would that standard mean in a war such as this? Unlike conventional war, it obviously does not mean that the other nation's tanks are back on their side of the border. Even in that conventional case, there is broad permission not only to restore the literal location of forces, but also to build in security guarantees that make it unlikely they will commit aggression again.

Similar considerations should guide our thinking in this case. It will not be enough merely to eliminate the particular bad actors responsible for these particular acts of terror. To the greatest extent possible, the U.S., in cooperation with other nations, must attempt to build an environment which enables the securities and comfortable routines of the pre-September 11 environment to return to American life. At a minimum, this means increased international cooperation to share intelligence on terrorist groups, to starve them of funding and "safe harbor" from other states, and the will to repress and eliminate them preemptively whenever intelligence is sufficient to warrant such actions.

Space does not permit exploration of the many additional important issues to be considered as we proceed with our "war." The intellectual and practical challenge, however, is clear: to retain the core moral elements of the just war tradition, even as we acknowledge that they must be rethought, adapted and extended to cover our genuinely novel strategic situation.

Martin L. Cook is professor of military studies and ethics at the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

Hearts and minds

Glen Stassen

A WAR AGAINST terrorism requires winning the battle for the hearts and minds of potential terrorist recruits. But prolonged bombing of Afghanistan until the snows come in mid-November will block food from getting to millions of innocent Afghan Muslims who have already experienced four years of drought and have no reserves. Beginning on November 17, millions of Muslims worldwide will begin the holy month of Ramadan, fasting by day, and praying in the mosque before breaking their fast at sundown. What will they be hearing in their mosques and thinking as they fast, if they are outraged that fellow Muslims in Afghanistan are starving to death because of U.S. bombing? Already the large majority of Muslims oppose the bombing. Will they be meditating on revenge and the recruitment of more terrorists if the bombing continues into the month of Ramadan?