Further to my comment yesterday, here are the usually accepted conditions for a war to be just.:

* A just war can only be waged as a last resort. All non-violent options must be exhausted before the use of force can be justified.

* A war is just only if it is waged by a legitimate authority. Even just causes cannot be served by actions taken by individuals or groups who do not constitute an authority sanctioned by whatever the society and outsiders to the society deem legitimate.

* A just war can only be fought to redress a wrong suffered. For example, self-defense against an armed attack is always considered to be a just cause. Further, a just war can only be fought with "right" intentions: the only permissible objective of a just war is to redress the injury.

* A war can only be just if it is fought with a reasonable chance of success. Deaths and injury incurred in a hopeless cause are not morally justifiable.

* The ultimate goal of a just war is to re-establish peace. More specifically, the peace established after the war must be preferable to the peace that would have prevailed if the war had not been fought.

* The violence used in the war must be proportional to the injury suffered. States are prohibited from using force not necessary to attain the limited objective of addressing the injury suffered.

* The weapons used in war must discriminate between combatants and non-combatants. Civilians are never permissible targets of war, and every effort must be taken to avoid killing civilians. The deaths of civilians are justified only if they are unavoidable victims of a deliberate attack on a military target.

How do our actions in Iraq measure up to that?

But today is a "Peace Day" on this blog and, in that spirit, I am bringing you this prayer, written by St. Francis of Assisi.

StFrancisofAssisi


PRAYER OF PEACE

Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace;
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,
Grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

St. Francis of Assisi (1181-1226)

You may remember that, on her election as Britain's first ever female Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher stood on the steps of Number 10 and quoted the first verse (adapted) as a rallying call to the Conservatves.

P.S. What is that aircraft doing in the top left-hand corner of the painting of the Saint?