On the war of iraq - Research Paper Example

tyrannical rule of Saddam Hussein, indiscriminate killing, large-scale unemployment, loss of basic infrastructure, lack of law-enforcement, and armed resistance, made the country’s future appear bleak. This is particularly true for the most vulnerable sections of Iraqi society: the children, women and old people (Ismael, 2007). The classical Just War tradition with ethical criteria for pre-emptive war, is not adequately filled by the Bush Administration’s use of military force in the attack it led against Iraq, as part of the war against global terrorism.

The doctrine of pre-emptive war in the case of Iraq fails vital ethical tests (Wester, 2004). Thesis Statement: The purpose of this paper is to present an argumentative discussion on the United States’ continued war on Iraq, beginning in 2003. The extent to which it was a Just War will be examined on the basis of the presidential justification for war with Iraq, public and media misperceptions about the war created by the Administration, and level of evidentiary strength in the president’s case for war.

The theoretical framework of the doctrine of Just War related to the concept of an unavoidable war to protect humanitarian rights, forms a useful tool for analysis. The doctrine includes international laws on the use of armed force in combat. “Beyond strict assessments of the legality of war, Just War doctrine is concerned with the broader notion of justice” (Enemark & Michaelson, 2005, p.545). The Just War doctrine is based on the principle that the inevitable death and destruction caused by war results in the burden of proof to explain the moral justification for war, falling on those who advocate the use of armed force.

The two dimensions to Just War doctrine are: jus ad bellum or the justice of going to war, and jus in bello or the just conduct of war. The jus ad bellum framework can be used to primarily assess the justice of the decision taken by the U.S. Administration to invade Iraq in March