[MK262]

Originally Posted by Sigaba

First, the Missouri was a battleship, not a carrier <<LINK>>.

Thanks for the correction.

Originally Posted by Sigaba

Second, the statement that "the tactics we employed in WWII were due to the limited technology of the time" needs clarification if it is going to support your point of view. At present, you're hinting at a counter factual argument that belies the history of combat operations in Europe and the Pacific and discounts the fact that technology was but one of several factors that shaped tactics.

True... there were other driving factors at the time as well. But as it applies in today's context, we have the military power and technological means to make any such past justification irrelevant (I would argue).

Originally Posted by Sigaba

Third, I think you're confusing the amoral use of war as a means to an end for the immoral use of violence for its own sake.

No... I'm not.

The Just War theory is an authoritative Catholic Church teaching confirmed by the United States Catholic Bishops in their pastoral letter, The Challenge of Peace: God's Promise and Our Response, issued in 1983. More recently, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, in paragraph 2309, lists four strict conditions for "legitimate defense by military force":

- the damage inflicted by the aggressor on the nation or community of nations must be lasting, grave, and certain;

- all other means of putting an end to it must have been shown to be impractical or ineffective;

- there must be serious prospects of success;

- the use of arms must not produce evils and disorders graver than the evil to be eliminated. The power of modern means of destruction weighs very heavily in evaluating this condition.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just_War

Originally Posted by Sigaba

Fourth, saying that the killing of civilians is "untenable in modern warfare" turns the definition of modern warfare on its head and flies in the face of global history.

Allow me to clarify. The indiscriminate killing of civilians to force some sort of capitulation is untenable in modern warfare. This is what Penn and TR were advocating.