Anglican Mainstream

Dominic Lawson writes in the Sunday Times May 8th 2011 page 22

If last week members of the SAS had finally caught up with the leader of such an attack ( of British Airways planes used as Osama Bin Laden's missiles to target Canary Wharf)  in some faraway redoubt and had done what they were trained on our behalf to do, do you not think that Londoners might be forgiven a certain amount of cheering? And how do you think we might have reacted if the head of America's Episcopal Church had responded by declaring himself concerned that "It doesn't look as if justice is seen to be done." …

In warfare it is not legally necessary for a member of the enemy's forces to be armed for him to be dispatched.  He might be sitting on the loo reading a newspaper, or even asleep in his barracks, but it would not infringe the norms of combat for a sniper to fix him in the sights and squeeze the trigger.   Yes, it is against the laws of warfare to shoot someone who is attempting to surrender (though it happens); but Geoffrey Robinson Q.C. has written..that "Bin Laden's belief system required him to die mid-jihad, from an infidel bullet…for this reason he would have refused any offer to surrender."

Robertson, along with others has cited the Nuremberg trials of the Nazis as the precedent Obama should have followed. Nuremberg was not a civil court but a military tribunal……The likely equivalent of Nuremberg would have been the transfer of Bin Laden to Guantanamo and a military tribunal…. It would definitely not have been a New York courtroom. ENDS

What is a Just War?

Six conditions must be satisfied for a war to be considered just:

• The war must be for a just cause.
• The war must be lawfully declared by a lawful authority.
• The intention behind the war must be good.
• All other ways of resolving the problem should have been tried first.
• There must be a reasonable chance of success.
• The means used must be in proportion to the end that the war seeks to achieve.

How should a Just War be fought?

A war that starts as a Just War may stop being a Just War if the means used to wage it are inappropriate.

• Innocent people and non-combatants should not be harmed.
• Only appropriate force should be used.
  • This applies to both the sort of force, and how much force is used.
• Internationally agreed conventions regulating war must be obeyed.

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