Aggressive War

In the light of President Obama's recent speech on the prospect of ending the permanent war in which the U.S. finds itself engaged, kudos to Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-California), the lone member of Congress who voted against the AUMF (Authorization to Use Military Force) on September 14, 2001.

The AUMF reads, in part, “the President is authorized to use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored such organizations or persons, in order to prevent any future acts of international terrorism against the United States by such nations, organizations or persons.”


Only one member of Congress voted against that 2001 bill. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., said from the floor of the House of Representatives: “I am convinced that military action will not prevent further acts of international terrorism against the United States. ... Some of us must urge the use of restraint ... and think through the implications of our actions today, so this does not spiral out of control.”


I think the Nuremberg condemnation of aggressive war is well known. Here's an excerpt from the Wikipedia entry on it:

The International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg, which followed World War II, called the waging of aggressive war "essentially an evil thing...to initiate a war of aggression...is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime, differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole."

But here's an opinion I hadn't known, from a well-known Tea Party favorite:

Thomas Paine wrote in the March 21, 1778, edition of his pamphlet The Crisis, “If there is a sin superior to every other, it is that of willful and offensive war ... he who is the author of a war, lets loose the whole contagion of hell, and opens a vein that bleeds a nation to death.”

The war in Afghanistan began as a defensive action in retaliation for the attacks of September 11, 2001; it had the support of the U.S.'s NATO allies and the United Nations. The war in Iraq, however, was an aggressive war which will remain forever as a blot on the honor of the United States and on the presidency of George W. Bush.