Posted on: Monday, July 26, 2004

ISLAND VOICES
Hawai'i's GIs have chance to act justly

By Lindsay Oishi

Like many, I was disturbed by the news that Hawai'i's Army National Guard will take its first step toward Iraq in less than a month ("War a step closer to home," July 21).

But we cannot let our natural desire to keep friends and family from harm weaken our commitment to rebuilding Iraq.

There seem to be many reasons not to support President Bush's plan to maintain or increase the number of troops in Iraq. As the death toll of American military passes 900, some wonder whether the aims of our occupation are worth incurring more casualties.

Terrorist threats give us another reason to feel anxious for our troops. Watching the appalling images of hostages pleading for their lives is heart-rending. It is easy to sympathize with the Philippine president's decision to withdraw troops early and avert the beheading of Angelo dela Cruz.

Unfortunately, setting a precedent of yielding to terrorists' demands may cost a yet unknown number of innocents their lives.

Despite the unpleasant reality of terrorist threats, we cannot ignore the fact that we have an ethical obligation to the people of Iraq.

When America went to war, one of the most compelling reasons to believe that justice was on our side was that Iraq was developing weapons of mass destruction. If this were true, we would have had at least the groundwork for a just cause. But these weapons failed to materialize, and concrete links between Iraq and the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 remain undiscovered.

In the absence of a just cause, and after the shocking revelations of prisoner abuse by American military personnel, we must realize that we have almost lost our chance to demonstrate our ability to act rightly in war.

Our last opportunity is to strive for an ideal that is relatively new in just war theory: just peace. As philosopher Brian Orend writes in the Journal of Social Philosophy (2000), " ... the just goal of a just war, once won, is a more secure and more just state of affairs than existed prior to the war."

Friends and family of Hawai'i's Army National Guard can take pride in the fact that their loved ones will participate in achieving this necessary outcome.

Iraq has become a deeply frightening place. But it is also a country to which we now have an undeniable moral debt.

Lindsay Oishi of Kane'ohe is a graduate student at Brasenose College, Oxford University, in England.