Saturday, June 7, 2008

War & the Responsibility to Protect

An excellent article from America magazine about the responsibility to protect in relation to the tragedy in Myanmar, and while this is relatively new ground in modern international relations; it has long been part of Catholic social teaching.

At the creation, the great cry of the first murderer Cain, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” was answered clearly and affirmatively by God, as Cain was banished for the killing of his brother Abel.

This is why we are in Iraq, though the initial reasoning centered around the protection of ourselves from future terrorist attacks that might come armed with nuclear or biochemical weapons supplied by the tyrant; it soon become clear that there were no weapons to disburse but the oppressive yoke our intervention removed from the neck of the Iraqi people will long justify this war.

In the Wall Street Journal Fouad Ajami reminds us that we went to war in Iraq to defend the innocent against the aggressor, that the aggressor is still there, that we have a lot of work left to do.