Johan asks Otto, “What country at war cares for principles?” Do you believe war justifies compromising a country’s principles? In what ways do you think the USA’s wartime actions would be different if war broke out today, and in what ways the same?
No, I don’t believe that it does, but it seems to be a part of war in general. Not just here. I don’t think the actions would be much different, but it would depend on the circumstances of the war. I don’t think any Northern Vietnam earlier immigrants were interned! I demonstrated against the war in Iraq, but again, I don’t think we had enough Iraqi citizens to warrant any action.
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The decision to go to war or enter a war is made by a few; those in political, military and/or economic power. Were Americans in general in favor of entering WWII? The reported atrocities ought to have pushed the public to a common voice for defeating the Nazi and Axis powers. Sadly, I’m unsure if the majority of Americans today could agree upon principles that justified any warfare unless our country was targeted today as it was on 9-11. The bombing of Honolulu resulted in a rush to enlist and thrusted the US into the Pacific War. Today? How united are we?
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Seems to me that people will polarize based on their values and perceptions. Look at our last election. In a way, it was a war.
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I agree with @NanK. Without common principles it difficult to know when to enter a war nor what winning would look like. The whole country agreed that 9/11 was wrong. The US pursued the people/organization responsible and avoided general populations. Unlike the Israeli/Hamas war today.
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I am old enough to remember some of the mood of the country in 1940-41. People may have been unhappy about the actions of Germany and Japan, but I don’t think most of them wanted our country to get involved. My father was a strong supporter of Robert Taft, who was opposed to US involvement. The attack on Pearl Harbor was a terrible shock, and for months after that we expected to see German or Japanese bombers flying over our country, even to Illinois where I lived at the time. We had blackouts and air raid drills in kindergarten. Later we learned that there was no possibility enemy planes could reach the middle of the country and have enough fuel to return home! I am sure there were some people in Washington who knew this all along, but the general public did not have all the details.
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In my opinion, I think a war often starts because of a principle within economics and greed. Then instead of maintaining the principles for starting the war, it becomes a win at any cost and the principles are forgotten.
While I certainly don’t want to encourage a war, it would be hard to not step back and defend our country if attacked.
In general, we are a very divided country right now and some values have changed so that we are more likely to question what leaders state. In WWII there was a sense of everyone working together for a common good. I don’t think that would be the same reaction today.
To me there is no justification for war; the trillions of dollars currently spent (obvious and hidden costs) could be easily spent on true peace making and conflict resolution instead; thus––no more deaths (on any side), no more POWs, no more maimed or traumatized returning soldiers, no more soldier suicides, plus, plus. Yet, the US is involved in Shadow Wars now (https://www.kxnet.com/news/top-stories/the-us-is-presently-involvedin-15-shadow-wars-heres-where-and-why/). We are subsidizing war, including the killing of 1000s of children. Right now there is a bill that passed the House, the “Nonprofit Killer.” The bill would hand the Treasury Secretary unilateral authority to strip tax exempt status from nonprofits deemed “terrorist supporting,” with no meaningful due process for appeal. The bill has pro-Palestine advocacy in its crosshairs, but is wide reaching in scope.
There is no reason to believe this authority would not be abused; it could be food banks could loose their status for providing food to the wrong person/people. Disgusting.
Dee mentions greed, I like Gandhi’s quote, “The world has enough for everyone’s need but not everyone’s greed.” Greed for things and power seem to be behind war.
I’ve been living into the question, if I believe everyone is worthy and should have what they need to be safe, healthy and uplifted, what do I need to change? What can I do differently? This has been helpful in choosing what I do, watch, read, as well as reaching out to others to take action within our abilities.