There are, of course, various examples of a 'just war', and the Jewish tradition has always believed that such a thing is possible and, indeed,actual.
Most of us would argue that the Allies against the Nazis in the Second World War was taking part in a 'just war'.
But the problem is this: You have to have criteria about what constitutes a just war. For instance, the taking over of your territory, or arguably the complete disregard for
the life of the inhabitants of a country (more problematic if they voted for the government that is starving/killing them), as well as a clarity about what the war is to achieve and how you will exit from the engagement with honour.
In Iraq, it is hard to see how Bush could justify going in. Having gone in- and the UK was with him on this--it is clear that there is no real exit strategy. This has to be judged against whether the people of Iraq are now better off (not), whether it is descending into civil war (possibly), whether this is what the people themselves wanted (probably not), whether the unintended consequences are tolerable (clearly not), whether the US is only willing to have a government in place in Iraq which it can control, rather than one that the people of Iraq might vote in,
which could be Islamist.....
So answering the question is difficult, but in brief I believe that there is a "Just War" tradition in Judaism and arguably in many other faiths, but that this war does not fit with any criteria one might choose to apply.
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