Is war the right thing to do?
I think one of the fundamental problems with all of the conflict in the middle east and Afghanistan is the idea that there will eventually be peace in an area because of it. Israel’s continuing fight with its neighbors ever since its inception is proof of that. Further evidence of this is the continuing war in Iraq (I’m sorry, but when Americans die due to the presence of foreign nationals with munitions, the war isn’t over. It’s just taken on a new form), with factions reported in the news as “loyalists to Saddam” but much more likely just anti-American for all the influence we’ve tried to spread in the middle east continuing to wage battles against troops. In Afghanistan, a western province’s regional governmental head has reverted to Taliban-style controls over his area, shutting down cafes where young boys were playing video games because they were a bad moral influence (okay, I can kinda see that one, but what comes next?).
Fighting a war because it is the right thing to do cannot ensure that other people will see it the same way. If so, the U.S. should be intervening in Liberia more than we are. We should investigate and openly criticize the Saudi royal family’s ties to al-Qaeda. We should go into Pakistan and take on the terrorists harbored there. We should work harder in Malaysia and Indonesia, too.
Morality is a good thing. Selective morality isn’t.