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Justified Wars, Conflicts, and Religion

© lawhawk

The recent events in Kosovo and the former Yugoslavia has brought tremendous pressure on NATO, the US, and others to justify the intervention by force to bring an end to human rights abuses. My colleague Frank Monaldo has written an article that deals with many of these issues. However, I think there are several lessons that need to be brought to bear on the Middle East in particular.

Many of the most horrific human rights abuses have occurred in the pursuit of religious beliefs. The origin of the conflict in the former Yugoslavia, along with the conflicts in the Middle East, were born in the religious strife of centuries gone by. The original intent of the combatants are lost for all time and in their place are hatreds that defy logic or reason. There are many different religious conflicts in the Middle East at the present besides the one that pits Israelis against many of their Arab neighbors.

Muslims are not united with each other despite the protestations of the press. There are two major factions - the Shi'a and Sunni faiths, each with different ways of expressing their faiths. There are also more extreme factions within those faiths and those are the ones that present the greatest challenge and threat to destablizing the region.

The conflict in Kosovo should pose as a warning and a sign to those that are willing to take up arms against their fellow human beings; that human rights abuses cannot and will not be tolerated. These injustices should have been stopped before they got to the point when arms were necessary but since that did not occur, force should be used to prevent further atrocities.

Meanwhile, the Iraqis have quietly backed off the near constant violation of the no-fly zones. It is interesting that they have chosen a time when the US and its allies are in the midst of a campaign in Europe to back off on the pressure to drop the no-fly zones and sanctions when the diversion could have been exploited by Iraq to its benefit. Instead, President Hussein's government has chosen to remain on the back burner and not deal with the issue at hand; how to properly feed and care for the Iraqi population.

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