This is just a fascinating video. It’s topical as well, the beginning deals with the War in Vietnam and the idea of a pre-emptive strike. They cover a lot of ground and I couldn’t possibly comment intelligently on everything contained here, so I’m going to limit myself to the idea of War.
The Catholic Ideal for war is a Just war. This is a coherent philosophy: If we limit ourselves to conflicts wherein we are unambiguously on the side of justice, there can be no dispute, and by the grace of God our victory will be swift. What exactly a Just War is made of is the subject of debate. The idea is related to the Roman casus belli, or Cause for War. Romans were a legalistic society, and so the idea of a unilateral aggressive war was offensive to them. So, their many unilateral aggressive wars had to be pitched with a justification. For Example: During the Gallic Campaign, Julius Caesar instigated a revolt by his mere presence, the revolt allowed him to frame intervention in Gaul as a defensive action.
ZippyCatholic introduced me to the idea that Asymmetrical Force was unjust. Civilians are non-combatants, and so should be excluded from military action. Targeting civilians is thus a heinous offense. The Nuclear Bombs at Hiroshima and Nagasaki were the most heinous of these offenses. The frequent defense of the nuclear bombings (which I myself have used, prior to my understanding Zippy’s idea) is that a land war in Japan would have cost so many more American lives. Maybe that is so, but at least they would have been military combatants with unintentional civilian casualties. All life is sacred, hands down, end of argument. To modify a quip by JMSmith for my own purposes: We are trying to kill so many people on purpose, let’s try to minimize the number of people we kill on accident.
In the Video, William Buckley and Fulton Sheen spend some time discussing the idea of pre-emptive strikes to end wars before they start. Very well! Let’s return to the example of the Nuclear Bombings. Let’s assume two changes in this scenario: 1- That nuclear weapons were available and 2- Someone in the President’s company had foresight enough to be confident their use would work. What if we nuked Japan immediately after Pearl Harbor?
This adds one offense to another. The Nuclear Bombings themselves are a horrendous act for aforementioned reasons. Adding, on top of it, that we made zero effort at the outset to face our enemy and resorted to killing their civilians would be even more heinous.
Consider Zippy’s answer to the Trolley problem. A malfunction on a trolley has led it to careen at high speeds down a track. You are on a bridge overlooking the track, and you see a junction in the Trolley track. On it’s present course, the trolley will strike 5 people. On the other track, if you pull the lever to move the Trolley on the Junction, it will strike 1. Zippy’s answer is that if you do nothing, the 5 people will die by circumstances beyond your control and for which you are not responsible. If you pull the lever, your action will have effectuated the death of the one person, and you will be culpable.
A pre-emptive strike is like pulling the lever. A Just War requires that your opponent has done some misdeed that merits a military response. Striking before they have done that makes you the agressor.
In Syria, President Trump has announced the withdrawal of US troops and the handover of responsibility to Turkey, who promptly announced a unilateral invasion. What debt does the US owe Syria, the Kurds, or Turkey? None. Police Action is not just war unless there is a treaty or alliance invoked to involve the other. Poland and Hungary share such historical ties that they consider each other “brother” nations. But the United States does not have such a relationship with the parties here. Our involvement would be intervention. Intervention violates the apologia used to defend the Nuclear weapons: US Troops are expendable in the name of peace between two different countries. Intervention violates the Just War principle: The United States is involving itself in a war it otherwise would not have been involved in. Intervention violates the prerequisite of Casus Belli: A Desire for Peace does not necessitate commitment to an unrelated war.
AMDG
Times-Dispatch of Vichy Earth 