This is an issue that most people just don’t think about much.  When they do think about it, it isn’t deep.

Unfortunately, many Americans view war as something of a video game.  More people are starting to understand that there is a cost to war, but they tend not to oppose war on purely moral grounds.

With the U.S. and Israeli governments starting a war with Iran (not just in Iran), there have been at least 6 U.S. soldiers who have died.  This gets a lot of attention.  Part of it is that it hits close to home.

If there is an event that kills 10 people in your city, it is going to get a lot of attention, and rightly so.  If a similar event happened in Thailand or Nigeria, you probably wouldn’t hear anything about it.  And to be sure, there is nothing wrong with that.

But when it is our own government initiating violence, every death counts.  They are making a big deal about the release of the names of the 6 U.S. soldiers.  Maybe the news should read off the names of all of the little girls who were murdered in Iran.

Pacifism and Non-Aggression

I am not a pacifist.  I believe in non-aggression.  I don’t think people should initiate violence.  It gets more complicated if someone steals property without using actual violence.

I believe that people have a right to defend themselves, including the use of violence.  If an innocent person is being attacked, then that person is justified in using violence to repel the attacker.

I believe that the use of violence really should be the last resort.  Even in the case of theft (which can be argued is violence, in a sense), there are oftentimes remedies that don’t require violence.

If someone has stolen money and refuses to give it back, there are ways that society can impose penalties and even provide some restitution for the victim.  The bank can take the thief’s assets.  The grocery store can prevent the thief from shopping there.  And if the thief is harmed by someone else, maybe he doesn’t get justice either.

Still, I am not necessarily against the use of some force in cases of theft.  Theft in itself is aggression.

War and Non-Aggression

The problem comes with war.  By nature, war is aggressive, even if responding to an attack.

Iran is demonstrating this dilemma now.  The U.S. and Israeli states are guilty of murder and war crimes.  It is completely inexcusable to attack another country that was not aggressing against others (in spite of media lies).  The only people who could lay claim to being aggressed against by the Iranian government is the Iranian people.

The moral question I have is in the response.  Iran has been firing hundreds of missiles into Israel and surrounding countries that have U.S. military bases.  It seems justified to fire missiles into military bases, but even here, there is not perfect accuracy.  Plus, when some of those missiles get shot down, they can fall on innocent parties.

The people living in or visiting the U.A.E. or Qatar don’t deserve to die.  Even the people living in Israel don’t deserve to die unless they were part of the specific group committing aggression.

This is the problem with war.  You can’t just defend yourself against the aggressors.  When you try to defend yourself, you are also going to kill innocent people in most cases.

This is an issue I struggle with.  If I were in Iran, I would probably be telling my government to fire missiles to cause pain to other people.  Even if you can’t kill the monster, you can give him a bloody nose.

The only other choice for Iranian officials was to literally do nothing and take it.  This just emboldens the “leaders” in the U.S. and Israel, and Israel would probably take over Iran, just as they are trying to take over parts of Lebanon right now.

There is an argument to be made that there would be even more death and destruction if Iran did nothing. Sometimes the bully needs to be punched back.  The problem is that punching back in this case means killing innocent people.

So, I don’t know if Iranian officials are “justified” in doing this.  It is certainly understandable what they are doing.  When you corner a wounded animal, they will eventually fight back even if they are the weaker one.

What I do know is that the U.S. and Israeli officials who initiated this war are murderers.  There was no legitimate justification to attack the people of Iran.