Essay 2: The War in Afghanistan
due dates and page requirements
- Rough Draft
- --Wednesday, 21 February; 4 - 6 pages; two printed versions due at start of class
- --Peer response will be conducted at home
- --Use the following format when saving the file: "cc2-s07-yourlastname-essay2-rd.doc"
- --Draft submitted to openarea folder entitled "essay-2-rd" by classtime
- Final Draft
- --Wednesday, 28 February; 5 - 7 pages; two printed copies due at the start of class
- --Use the following format when saving the file: "cc2-s07-yourlastname-essay2-fd.doc"
- --Draft submitted to openarea folder entitled "essay-1-fd" by classtime
printable version of essay 2 assignment (.pdf, 10Kb)
texts
Richard Regan, "Just War Conduct"
A.J. Coates, "The Just War"
the assignment
On 14 October 2001, four days after "more long-range bombers . . . flew in to hit Taliban positions" (Gordon par. 7), the following headline appeared in The New York Times: "Pentagon Says Error Led to Bombing of Houses in Kabul." According to Eric Schmitt, "A Navy jet mistakenly dropped a 2,000-pound bomb today into a residential neighborhood of Kabul[, and as a result] four people had been killed and eight others wounded. . . . The episode, which the Pentagon attributed to a targeting error, was a gruesome example of what the military calls 'collateral damage. . . .' [T]he [village] was hit by one of the military's most advanced and highly touted 'smart' munitions, guided precisely to its target by a constellation of satellites . . ." (pars. 1-4). The target, it seems, was a military helicopter almost a mile away (par. 6).
These types of attacks, which the watchdog group FAIR claimed were "rarely raised on any network" (par. 2), had received attention in alternative media. Marc W. Herald argued that there had been some "3,767 civilian deaths in eight and a half weeks [of fighting] (par. 1). Others suggested that the "U.S. Campaign Against Afghanistan [is]Not Self-Defense Under International Law" (Foley). They were often the only voices to counter the political leaders who, after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, announced that we were going "find those evil-doers, those barbaric people who attacked our country and we're going to hold them accountable . . ." (Bush par. 19), and the public voices who wanted us to:
For this essay, then: Considering the abstract theories of discrimination and proportionality elaborated upon by Regan and the representation of U.S. attacks by the U.S. and alternative media, I would like you to come to your own conclusion about the morality of the U.S. bombing of what were being called "war-related targets."
Questions to consider
- Is it ethical to bomb targets so close to civilians?
- In a modern war, can "accidents" because of "technical error" take blame off aggressors?
- How is the popular U.S propaganda trying to influence the way we perceive the U.S.'s actions?
- Look closely at how both sides view, represent, word, and attempt to influence the way we read the results of the same bombings.
- If the U.S. violates jus in bello, what does that say about their argument that they were fighting a just war?
- Can a just warrior break from the just tradition in some places and still be fighting a just war?
- Can, like Nicholas D. Kristof believes, we kills thousands of civilians, and still be fighting for the greater good of those people we are killing?
- Ultimately, were the attacks of Sept. 11 so disgraceful that they can warrant an unlimited, and unyielding response?
When putting this essay together, please be sure not to go from one bombing to the next showing that it is or is not a violation of jus in bello. Be sure to have a clear point that you are trying to make and lead up to it throughout the essay, using the various reports on the bombings and the opinions of war crimes as support for your own ideas. You must use articles under the Alternative Media and War Crimes Opinions headings, not solely those under the Mainstream Media heading.
Rough and Final versions of the essay are to be written double spaced using Microsoft Word, Times New Roman font size 12, and with 1 inch margins all around.