[jude24]

War is Evil. God hates War.

I'm not convinced God hates war - He sure ordered His share of it, and in Luke 3:14, the soldiers weren't told to quit, but just not to oppress.

Personally, I take the Augustinian-Aquinas viewpoint - that war is sometimes the lesser of two evils, a measure of last resort to prevent the greater harm of loss of innocent life. From that thesis logically follows my requirements of both justice in cause and justice in actions (jus ad bellum and jus in bellum). This, I believe, is the historically Christian viewpoint.

As applied to Iraq, that's a thornier question. This was a preemptively defensive war, started under the mistaken assumption that Saddam had WMD's and he would use them against us. This proved not to be true, but it sure seemed plausible at the time.

[George W. Bush]

As applied to Iraq, that's a thornier question. This was a preemptively defensive war, started under the mistaken assumption that Saddam had WMD's and he would use them against us. This proved not to be true, but it sure seemed plausible at the time.

So you're saying, "Oopsie!"? Well, that would be a terse summary of Bush's final assessment of our mission in Iraq unless you count the postwar bilge about nationbuilding and spreading democracy. Somehow, you'd think our glorious leaders would finally realize that the American public reacts to 'spreading democracy' with about the same enthusiasm as 'spreading venereal diseases'.

How about OPie's assertion that Islam is a Satanic religion? Whaddaya think? Personally, I'm still thinking it is only an explicitly Antichrist religion.

[gunsofaugust]

Personally, I take the Augustinian-Aquinas viewpoint - that war is sometimes the lesser of two evils

Good post you made with that observation. That is the very point I was going to make but you beat me to it. They knew to take a clue from Solomon - there is a time for war.

Augustine understood the fallen nature of man was a reality through dealing with people's troubled lives as a spiritual light. He eventually saw people as they really are and it took a toll as he saw that fallen nature played out in the inevitable conflicts that resulted.

That same fallen nature leads not just to everyday conflicts but to wars.

[xzins]

This was a preemptively defensive war, started under the mistaken assumption that Saddam had WMD's and he would use them against us

That is not accurate.

First, there was no real fear that Saddam would use them against us. The issue was that he was not complying with UN resolutions to reveal the status of unreported WMDs. I don't think anyone claimed that Saddam would launch a war against the US. The fear was that his possession of any quantity would enable him to use terrorists to deliver small quantities of WMD for big effects in the western world.

Second, it has been demonstrated again and again that Saddam did still possess WMDs and that he had the recipe for making more of them extremely quickly. Again, this gave him the capacity to use clandestine terrorist delivery systems.