Was Iraq War a “Just War” or Just a War? An Analysis from the Perspectives of Just War Theory

摘要

Whether or not the Iraq war should be regarded as a “Just War” or just a war has been sparked a lot of academic and public debates since 2003. Within the academic world of war politics, there are heterogeneous perspectives, such as Pacifism and Realism etc. This paper chose to analyse the issue by the employment of the Just War Theory. It generated the various arguments of the thinkers from the school of Just War philosophy and adopted a case study methodology to examine the nature of Iraq war. After a comprehensive analysis, it can be concluded that the Iraq war is an unjust war from the perspective of just war theory.