If one were to characterize the Iraq war as just or unjust according to the Catholic theory still expounded by Christian moralists, the conclusion would be that it is unjust. This is what the late Pope John Paul II did before he died, followed by many other Christian ethicists and pacifists.

However, we should consider the matter from the point of view of America as a superpower, in effect the world’s only superpower, which has undertaken a responsibility involving many motives and purposes. It has been argued by the Bush administration that the war was undertaken to depose a brutal dictator, and to establish a democratic regime in Iraq, and to stabilize the region economically and politically, and to protect the security interests of the U.S. worldwide.

War, seen in the context of enlightened self-interest, can be morally permissible and “just” if the administration undertaking this effort remains true to the founding principles of constitutional democracy and republican representative government and the moral underpinnings of its national character.

The Constitution is based on certain ethical principles taken from natural law and universal human rights that has withstood the test of time and is still found to be the solid basis of our national life and character. The American ethos, our form of government with its system of checks and balances, the openness of our democratic way of life and conduct all make for a context in which modern technological conflict, war if you will, is justified.

But the crucial requirement is that the morality of our governmental processes must be true to our national character of fairness and enlightened self-interest. Moreover, since we are very much a part of the world community of nations, certain agreed-upon conventions and treaties entered into with other nations must be respected and adhered to, even when some of these do not appear at first to be consistent with our declared purposes.

Thus, the Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights are our moral compass when it comes to war and technological conflict. Measured against these standards one could argue that the present war in Iraq is “unjust.”