Justice in War

Soldiers and military strategists of every age have struggled with the moral aspect of war. From this struggle, the Western tradition of just war theory has emerged as a guide and it continues to be revisited through the changes of modern warfare. Officers bear a heavy burden to not only accomplish the unit's mission, but to also safeguard the moral welfare of their soldiers by adhering to just war theory, specifically jus in bello principles. The strongest motivations for adhering to justice in war are not legalistic but very personal in nature. They can be expressed in three areas: for self, for unit and for service. Through a comparative case study of warfare that spans from World War I to Operation Iraqi Freedom, we can find ample evidence for each of the motivations and draw conclusions on the type of training U.S. service members should undergo to be best prepared for the challenges of modern warfare.