West Point Tries to Defend the Idea of a Just War

By David Swanson

Villanova University is hosting a West Point Military Academy-supported event about “Just War” theory.

The professor who teaches “ethics” at West Point last year lost two debates on the topic of whether war can ever be justified. Videos: one, two. I admit to being biased, as I was the one debating him, but the first event polled people at the start and finish and found that they’d been moved in the direction of agreeing with me. At the second event, the moderator failed to poll the audience, and I suspect the audience was more in agreement with me to begin with, but the video speaks for itself.

The idea that a war can be justified by an ancient imperialist set of sophistries is thoroughly debunked here. That’s a link to a book I wrote in preparation for a debate on “Just War” theory with a professor who writes books in defense of it. Here’s the video of that debate.

I believe it is plain from watching such videos that no great skill is required to debunk this stuff, that it falls under its own weight. But, perhaps I’m biased. Judge for yourself.

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David Swanson is an author, activist, journalist, and radio host. He is director of WorldBeyondWar.org and campaign coordinator for RootsAction.org. Swanson's books include War Is A Lie. He blogs at DavidSwanson.org and WarIsACrime.org. He hosts Talk Nation Radio.He is a 2015, 2016, 2017 Nobel Peace Prize Nominee.

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