--Historian Eric Bergerud (UC Berkeley)

One of the age old questions facing mankind is: when is war just? Or is their any such thing as a just war? There are a few fundamental principles surrounding the concept of just war. They are: a just war must be a last resort. This means that all other peaceful options must be exhausted before the use of force can be justified. A war is only just if waged by a legitimate authority. A just war must be fought only as self-defense against armed attack or to redress a wrong. There must be a reasonable chance of success. This means deaths and injury that result from a hopeless cause cannot be morally justified. The consequences of the war must be better than the situation that would exist had the war not taken place. The violence and destruction must be proportional to the injuries suffered. And last, civilians must not be targets of the fighting and great care must be taken to avoid civilian casualties.

These are the bases on which war can be justified. But these principles

The United States went through a number of different public justifications for their involvement in the conflict. The first reasons given were the importance of oil to the American economy and the United States' longstanding friendly relationship with Saudi Arabia. However, many Americans were dissatisfied with these explanations and "No Blood For Oil" became a rallying cry for domestic peace activists, though opposition never reached the size of opposition to the Vietnam War. Later justifications for the war included Iraq’s history of human rights abuses under President Saddam Hussein, the potential that Iraq may develop nuclear weapons or weapons of mass destruction, and that "naked aggression (against Kuwait) will not stand." Various peace proposals were floated, but none were agreed to. The United States insisted that the only acceptable terms for peace were Iraq's full, unconditional withdrawal from Kuwait.

Iraqi troops invaded Kuwait with armor and infantry, occupying strategic posts throughout the country, on August 2, 1990. Troops looted medical and food supplies, detained thousands of civilians, and took over the media. Iraq detained thousands of Western visitors as hostages, and later attempted to use them as bargaining chips. On August 6, the Security Council passed Resolution 661, placing economic sanctions on Iraq and, on November 11, Resolution 678, giving Iraq a withdrawal deadline of January 15, 1991, and authorizing "all necessary means to uphold and implement Resolution 660". President of the United States George Bush quickly announced that the US would launch a "wholly defensive" mission to prevent Iraq from invading Saudi Arabia - Operation Desert Shield. There is no evidence that Iraq ever intended to invade Saudi Arabia, as even General Norman Schwarzkopf, the allied commander during the conflict, admitted. Iraq claimed all throughout that its only intent was to reclaim its "province" Kuwait.

As wrenching as the war was for the US, it was infinitely worse for Vietnam, which lost a million people. Under Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, who himself was a survivor of the Nazi Ho

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UC Berkeley, China Yugoslavia, Truman Doctrine, Commission UNSCOM, Saddam Hussein, Kuwait Iraqi, Vietnam War, Empire Kuwait, Iraq November, , saudi arabia, gulf war, war war, weapons mass destruction, involvement vietnam, vietnam war, involvement war, no-fly zones, mass destruction, soviet influence, weapons mass,