re: trouble for just-war apologists

By ( articles - email ) | Mar 18, 2003

Phil,

But Bush also made the point that waiting for a madman with WMD to strike first is not self-defense, it's suicide. I think the difference is that Soviet Union, for all that it was evil, was not unstable. In other words, it's leaders knew that to strike was to invite self-destruction. However, Saddam Hussein has shown not only his willingness to use these weapons, but also his willingness to pass them on to others for use by proxy as the administration has said several times.

Besides, weren't we told time and again by the bishops during the Cold War that the doctrine of deterrence was immoral too? So what is left for us to defend ourselves?