Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Does McCain Advocate A More "Catholic" Viewpoint on Iraq

Perhaps so. I think Beyond Monday Morning at Moral Obligations: Living Out Catholicism in Today's War is raising the right questions. I know that while certain people disagree see Chicago anti-war protestors disrupt Easter Mass, throw blood on parishioners , these questions are in line with the thinking of the latest U.S. Catholic Bishops statement on Iraq to some degree. Especially when they say :

"we do not have specific competence in political, economic and military strategies and do not assess particular tactics, but we can, as teachers, share a moral tradition to help inform policy choices. Our Catholic teaching on war and peace offers hard questions, not easy answers. Our nation must now focus more on the ethics of exit than on the ethics of intervention.The grave moral concerns we and others raised prior to the war now give way to new moral questions.

In the current situation the traditional principles of “noncombatant immunity” and “probability of success” suggest these questions: How can we minimize the further loss of human lives? What actions will do the most good and least harm? What elements of a responsible transition are attainable? How can they be achieved? What actions should be avoided? How can decision makers take into account both the realities and setbacks in Iraq and the likely human consequences of rapid withdrawal?.

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