What is the morality of war? This is a question that Robert S. McNamara poses in the documentary film The Fog of War. When talking with people about war, either the current war or war throughout history, what strikes me is the ability for people to detach themselves from the harsh reality of innocent death that war brings. We can talk about the justifications of war, the need for countries to defend or protect themselves, the need for countries to stand strong against aggression, but nobody wants to discuss in length the questions of morality, the morality of innocent people losing their lives for a war they may or may not endorse. How does a government add up the numbers and deem a certain number of innocent deaths acceptable or even redeemable.

Wars in general are intwined with a countries need to protect its economic interests. Wars are fought to protect or acquire land and resources. The ideas of democracy and fighting for freedom come as secondary behind economic and political interests. Many hawks before the war in Iraq agreed that invading iraq was not about democracy and freeing the Iraqi people, or protecting the United States from supposed weapons of mass destruction, but of a greater cause to help create stability in the region. A stabile middle east would plainly protect western oil interest. People will argue that oil interest have nothing to do with America's involvement in Iraq, but I would argue that this line of thinking completely ignores the history of western involvement in the middle east and Iraq itself. Regardless, It would be hard to pose an argument against the fact most wars are fought to protect economic and political interests, and when there a few interests to protect war is not undertaken.

How do you define that as moral?