The "WAR" poll.

[babar]

So what is other? Not being a troublemaker, just curious what reasons people would have...

 

[tlgoblue]

"War may sometimes be a necessary evil. But no matter how necessary, it is always an evil, never a good. We will not learn how to live together in peace by killing each other's children." 2002 Noble Peace Prize acceptance speach, James Earl Carter, Jr.

What a beautiful thought.

 

[Saffron]

"Other" to me means it depends on the circumstances surrounding a particular war. In my opinion, war is far too complicated to simplify with one set answer. Each war is different.

 

[bsnyder]

"Other" to me means it depends on the circumstances surrounding a particular war. In my opinion, war is far too complicated to simplify with one set answer. Each war is different.

I'll agree with that. But since I'm not a pacifist, and could not vote "Never acceptable", "a necessary evil" seemed to fit better.

 

[wvrevy]

War, to me, is only acceptable in the two situations Rich posted earlier: self defense and in defense of others (to stop an ongoing genocide, in other words). But there needs to be overwhelming evidence of ongoing genocide before I would support an invasion. Nobody appointed us the world's policemen, and we shouldn't be acting like it unless we see something that absolutely must be addressed in the name of humanity as a whole.

Also, please don't confuse "pre-emptive" war with "preventative" war. Both terms basically mean that you attack the enemy before they can attack you. The difference lies in the enemy. If that enemy is in the process of preparing to attack your country, then it is a "pre-emptive" war, and would fully qualify, in my opinion, as self defense. But if that enemy is not in that process, but you merely suspect that they may be, sometime down the road...that is "preventative" war.

If Iraq had actually had all the things we were told they had, then this might be labled a "pre-emptive" war. However, since we didn't, and the story has shifted away from how Iraq was preparing to attack us and our allies, it's become clear that what we are involved in is actually a preventatve war. We attacked because Iraq, "might, someday, be able to launch an attack against the United States." Things shifted from "weapons of mass destruction" to "WMD programs", with little evidence of either.

A pre-emptive war is a defensive war. A preventative war is offensive. There-in lies the difference.

 

[Crankyshank]

"Other" to me means it depends on the circumstances surrounding a particular war. In my opinion, war is far too complicated to simplify with one set answer. Each war is different.

That's exactly why I voted other