Garry Wills on Just War

[Thought this would be of interest. mp]

The New York Review of Books
November 18, 2004

What Is a Just War?
By Garry Wills

Click here for full article. Abstract follows:

The traditional theory of the just war covers three main topics--the
cause of war, the conduct of war, and the consequences of war. Or, in
the Scholastic tags: jus ad bellum, jus in bello, and jus post bellum.
But most attention is given now to the middle term, the conduct of
war. That is where clear offenses are most easily identified, though
only occasionally reported and even more rarely punished. The two main
rules of jus in bello have to do with discrimination between
combatants and noncombatants, the latter to be spared as far as
possible, and proportionality, so that violence is calibrated to its
need for attaining the war's end. The claims of morality here are
recognized with difficulty in actual combat, and disputed when
recognized. Why should that be?