On War and its Ethical Challenges

The book of Deuteronomy contains a series of instructions on how the ancient Israelites are to conduct themselves when engaged in making war. Based on these and other texts, we Jews have created an ethical framework for addressing this complex question.

Although peace is the favored course of action in nearly every situation, and war is viewed as a tragic last step to take in situations where all else has failed, Jewish tradition still has a great deal to say about the ways we must conduct ourselves when forced to engage in war. In Judaism, all is not fair in war.

About eight months ago, back on Yom Kippur, I spoke about the dangers of military occupation and urged our President to withdraw our troops from Iraq. I was particularly concerned with the extraordinary practical and ethical difficulties of occupying a hostile country with an alien culture for an extended period of time, and predicted that the consequences for our troops and our nation’s reputation would be corrosive. I was also deeply concerned that our active troops, reserve troops, and National Guard were not trained or prepared for that service.

The essence of that controversial sermon was that it is tremendously difficult to conduct a military occupation without it taking a terrible toll on the occupying troops in both ethical and psychological ways.

Unfortunately, in recent weeks a number of incidents have come to light that reflect very badly on the conduct of our own troops in Iraq. Americans are accused of mistreating and even killing prisoners of war. The photographs in the newspaper and on TV have been, frankly, horrible.

This deeply distressing situation goes directly counter to every Jewish injunction on the treatment of those who are under one’s control. In Jewish law, as in international and American law, there are strict regulations on the conduct of occupation troops. It seems clear that some American military personnel have failed those ethical standards. That the military, or at least the civilian hierarchy of the Defense Department, may have deliberately covered up these crimes only adds to the ethically repugnant situation. Of course this is not the Jewish way to do things; and this is clearly not the American way.

But it is, in fact, what often happens during military occupations. The truth is that it is nearly impossible to occupy a hostile country for an extended period of time and not get sucked into a deeply unhealthy relationship with the subject population. When you are patrolling streets where it seems as though everyone hates you, and many of them throw stones at you, and some shoot at you and try to blow you up, it becomes very likely that immoral incidents will occur—whether they are My Lai massacres in Vietnam or Abu Ghraib torture sessions and extra-judicial executions in Baghdad. Military occupation is never a good option, and unfortunately we are now enmeshed in two separate, nasty occupations at once, both of which seem likely to go on indefinitely.

The sad part is that once you are in it’s very hard to admit failure and get back out. Somehow the disaster of occupation becomes addictive. Nonetheless, there are more and less ethical ways to conduct oneself in such circumstances.

In a Summer Adult Education Academy mini-class we will examine the Ethics of Military Occupation. This series is always entitled "Hot Topics in the Hot Sun"—this may prove to be a particularly hot topic to explore in Jewish text, discuss and argue about.

I encourage you to attend this class, which meets Wednesday nights, June 30th, July 7th and 14th at 7:30 PM.

In these days of controversy and war, we pray that ethical standards are restored for the conduct of our troops, and that peace may come speedily and soon.