what is your opinion of war?

Question

not necessarily the war in iraq, but just war.

personally, i am a pacifist. i think war is useless and kills thousands of innocent people.
but i still support our soldiers. i think it is good that they want to help our country.

does this make sense?

Answer 1

I get what yerr saying.
It's good that they are helping us
But they shouldn't create a war in the first place.
then they wouldn't have to worry about it :]

Answer 2

I support soldiers in coming back home alive. I don't support some of them in their mentalities towards war. I've known a couple kids who joined the marines and just wanted to shoot at somebody.
I'm not a pacifist, because a pacifist's stance is that violence cannot solve any problems and is never the answer, and according to pacifism joining WWII even if solely for the reason to stop genocide, would still be wrong.
There are instances when I feel war is just, such as in defense of people who can not defend themselves, and when the acts are truly altruistic. However there are examples (for instance Iraq, and how the U.S. has conducted itself in Africa, Iran, the Balkans, South America, the Phillipines, etc.) where the U.S. acts in selfish ways in order to take resources, however uses the excuse of "freedom" or "liberty" or to stop slaughters. If the U.S. fought to help others I wouldn't mind so much, but instead we simply fight to help ourselves.
There's a genocide happening in Burma right now, and buddhist monks are being wholesale slaughtered. If the U.S. sent in forces to stop that (after exhausting the non-military options) then I wouldn't mind. However they ignore it and it gets no attention in the media because it doesn't benefit the rich Americans or the businesses to go fight in Burma.
Basically, the whole idea of "Just War" is something I support, but only if it is ACTUALLY just and if we're fighting for un-selfish reasons. However, in real-life this just hasn't been the case. Instead "Just War" is just a catch-phrase used to justify horrible things.

Answer 3

Unfortunately, war at times becomes necessary..If we're just talking about numbers killed..it would have been cheaper, with respect to human lives lost, to have just left Hitler aloneand let him kill off the Jews. President Reagan said that if you want peace, all you have to do is surrender. I must disagree with you that war is useless, having given the example above. Someone once said that war is politics by other means..I guess that means that if diplomacy fails, then the choice is either leave it alone or go to war. To be a pacifist is not to mean you are a coward. There were many soldiers during WW-2 who went into battle with no weapons at all. I forget the name of a certain medic, who went into battle without a gun; (was given Congressional Medal of Honor) who lowered over 100 of his fellow wounded down a cliff and didn't stop until he was shot in the butt. I have read several books where pilots and bombadiers asked their pastors/priests how they could justify to themselves killing thousands of Japanese citizens with the firebombings they were sent to do. Allied and U.S. soldiers fighting against Germans asked how it is that both sides prayed to the same God for victory. It's something that you and I may never understand in this lifetime.

Answer 4

"There shall be wars and rumors of wars"

Just as the bombs stopped falling on the hapless civilians of Serbian and Kosovo, the dogs of war have been unleashed in other parts of the world.

I don't hear the sound of people beating swords into plowshares. I hear only the sounds of war echoing from the four corners of the earth.

North Korea and South Korea recently engaged in a high seas shootout that sank one North Korean patrol boat, badly damaged five others and is believed to have killed 30 North Korean soldiers.

India and Pakistan, implacable foes and budding nuclear powers are fighting over the disputed Kashmir region.

Iraq has accused Iran of a missile attack and heavy fighting has broken out between Eritrea and Ethiopia.

And only Jehovah or Allah knows when the Middle East will blow up again.

It appears that the new millennium will not usher in a thousand years of peace and prosperity. It looks like the New World Order is beset with anarchy and tribalism.

It makes me long for the old days of the Cold War. Things were so simple back then. Good Vs Evil. Democracy Vs Communism. Freedom Vs Tyranny. Prosperity Vs Poverty.

The fires of hatred are almost unquenchable, and we don't have the military resources to put out all the hot spots. We need to be extremely selective where we choose to commit our military might.

Let us not spread our forces too thinly. Let us not meddle where we don't belong. Let us not interfere in regional ethnic and religious conflicts.

We should allow the United Nations to assume a larger role in solving conflicts between nations, and America should concentrate on solving the problems of racism and intolerance that seem to be endemic to our society.

Answer 5

What does make sense is that war is a necessary evil. The terrorist are religious nuts that believe their god told them to kill YOU, now do you want to hand them a couple dollars and ask them to pretty please not kill you, or would you rather let the defenders of this country and your way of life stand between you and the enemy? Now to the people who keep crying about Bush's illegal war, grow up. The people we are fighting want nothing more than to kill all non muslims, and they do not care about borders. If you want to stop war, then make it so terrible that no one is willing to take a chance on starting one with you.

Here is something written by John Stewart Mill [1806 - 1873]

War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight,nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.

Answer 6

HAHA.USA soliders fighting for theyr country in iraq.Yeah sure.NO they fight for petrol and when there wont be any of it there in the desert they will leave it and they will say there arent any terrorists.My opinion is that war will always be somewhere somehow afterall we make weapons and ammunition for what, we have to use them on something.I usualy hate it but i always wanted to be a solider where nobody will care about me and i will die there in the battlefield.But don't worry there wont be another world war (world war 3) because if there would be a ww then atomic bombs and biological weapons will be fired and all that is living will die.

Answer 7

Yes it does.

War is a tricky subject, defending against someone like Hitler, or Kaiser, was necessary. When I did medicine through time at GCSE war was a chance to test new surgical techniques, which is a good thing.

I respect troops because I couldn't do what they do, I might be able to be a surgeon but that would be about it.

Answer 8

It makes sense. Most everyone wants to live in peace. I think you're just acknowledging the fact that it's our soldiers that allows you to be a pacifist.

Answer 9

I agree with you. I think war in general is ridiculous. and the war in Iraq is pointless and insane. I support the troops though. They have to be brave putting their live on the line for something so dumb.

Answer 10

I do not support war. it does more than just kill people, death would be a blessing compared to seeing war first hand and living the tail for the rest of your life. over, and over again.

I support our soldiers, they are only doing what they have been trained to do by our dictators. they are only pawns in chess.

Answer 11

Like you, I think war is useless. It really doesn't accomplish anything. Yes, it does make sense. You hate war, but you honer the courage each solider has.