Is there a moral justification for killing in war?

Where to start with this one...I guess I'll start it here...as I said before war is raw, it is dirty and it is unapologetic. There is no black and white hindsight to war. War is full of grey areas that when question after the fact do not make sense but during the action is the only way to go. Is there a moral justification to killing in war? Well of course, it's the moral justification in protecting your brothers and sisters-in-arms. The justification comes from that oath mentioned. And it comes from knowing that the other side is trying to do the same to you.

Regardless of one's personal feelings about violence, when one joins the Military there is a certain understanding that violence has to be performed in some manner. So, bearing in mind that when sent to war, it is either the enemy popping a new orifice into your skull and going home to his family or you doing said hole creation and going home to yours. Even if one is a REMF FOBBIT, there is always that possibility. And one should always be ready of that possibility. Because I will be damned if I am not going to go home to my family because I think violence is bad.

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I have chosen to be a soldier. Knowing full well what that entails. I chose this knowing what the pay scale was and what the requirements were, this is my choice. In war I use that term loosely as we haven’t been in a declared war in so long… In war, soldiers have a mission. Taking another’s life is not pleasant under any circumstance, but is part of what I signed up for. Kill or be killed… as GEN George Patton said; “The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.”

CPT (Join to see) I can only speak as a rabbi to this issue. There is a common misconception that the "Sixth Commandment" says Thou shall not kill. In fact the Hebrew says Do not MURDER, dramatically different than kill. Further, the Hebrew Bible makes it clear that war is sometimes inevitable. If a country is attacked, then war is obligatory, so you can save your life and those of your family and country.

Sometimes, pre-emptive strikes are in the same category. For instance, in 1967, Israel was under siege by Egypt, Jordan and Syria. They preemptively started and finished the Six Day War, which was, according to Jewish law a defensive war.

The first year in Afghanistan after 9/11 was a similar case. However, we got bogged down in Afghanistan after about the first year, and it was no longer about Al Quaeda at that point. We were battling the Taliban, then, an enemy we created.

The Iraq war is a very different category. Iraq really posed no threat whatsoever to the US or Israel when we attacked in 2003. The reasons for the war were based on bad intel, and ultimately it became about "nation building" - another term for Imperialism. There is never a moral justification for this type of war - except in the minds of the leaders who call for the war.

The sad thing is that we aren't really much better off these days in terms of intel fusion. We have the DHS which creates a huge bureaucratic mess and adds no value, and the TSA, who make it very hard for legitimate passengers, and couldn't find a bomb if it was overt and ticking...

"I ain't a killer, but don't push me"...lyrics from 2Pac's "Hail Mary" I think this describes most Soldiers. Definitely me. I don't want to bring harm or pain to anyone, but if you push me into a corner where it becomes a "you or me" situation or you or any of my Soldiers lives, you are going to loose and loose hard. To me as a Soldier I know there is a chance that I might have to take a life, and I accept that. What I cannot accept as a leader or a Soldier is the wanton desire to kill or injure unprovoked. We are a profession of arms, not a "profession" of murders. But I think as a Soldier and leader I want to save lives. I can spread my sphere of influence through people who are living and eager to hear what I have to say than have to deal with the anger and angst of a dead person's relatives. I've hurt folks through my words and deeds, but in each of those cases, they were rationed stringently and with great care. I really don't know many men who haven't fought in their times. But to ask for morality in killing? Not sure if there is a moral reason to kill compared to a moral reason not to. It's personal depending on the person. He also mentions enemy combatants which changes the whole thing again. These are people who would do harm to you and yours. At that point again, I don't WANT to kill or maim, but to save my Soldiers, I'd do it and live with my decision with no problems. I am my Soldiers and my Soldiers are me; I cannot survive with a hurt part of me for long.

People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.

George Orwell

This man understood the need for violence in society. Once you are a soldier you will always stand apart from society, one foot drenched in blood and violence the other next to the raw dirt turned up by the plow of peace and prosperity. We walk among everyone but they can tell we are different, even when we show a gentle kinder side.
It's like they know at some base level, this person can set aside their morals to make the hard decisions. But, even when you put them back you are never quite the same and they can tell.

I don't wake up in the morning wanting to kill someone today. I also am not a hunter because I have no need to do so for food and I like animals. However most animals are an improvement over most people. The sad fact is that the world is full of sorry people who will kill me or us given the chance. Some have tried. In the case of a person who tries to kill me or someone that I care about or who tries to destroy our country I have no problem at all with killing them. As hard hearted as it sounds lots of people just need killing.

Is their a moral reason for killing in war, some of the countries we have gone to war with or quasi war with would be a better term, I would say no. But when we look at Nazi's, torpedoing civilian ships in WWI & II, rape of Nanking, what options do we have?

We could take the Neville Chamberlin approach, appeasement, that didn't work out. We could try the UN approach, that really doesn't work either. Unfortunately the reality is, bullies only respect someone who will go toe to toe with them. If you fail that, look what happens. Yugoslavia civil war is a good case in point. The EU tried to take the lead on this, it failed miserably, the Serbs took EU forces and chained them to targets, thereby limiting their overall effectiveness. Yet the massacres kept going on, debates kept on going on, and not until US intervention did it come to an end. A bully met his match. Sadam Hussein, kept playing games with the UN, and not until his demise did it finally sink in he wasn't going to win.

Likewise, the weakness, or lack of action against Russia, has led to more aggressive nature against former Soviet satellites nations by Putin.

I like to think of it as a duty to be performed to save lives. Some day we may never have war again, but until that day comes we and our brothers and sister will perform our duty.

Very interesting material,but still doesn't help (me) justify killing,even knowing that i have and would do so again if the need arose. The only justification i have ever had was protecting myself and my companions.