Best Defense
Thomas E. Ricks' daily take on national security.

First Things first

Over at the First Things blog, Keith Pavlischek seems to think that I am off base in thinking our presence in Iraq immoral, but thinking also that leaving would be more immoral. He calls me out for supposedly disagreeing with St. Thomas Aquinas. Yet I think Aquinas’s second condition for waging war justly, which he ...

587300_090331_apostleB2.jpg
587300_090331_apostleB2.jpg

Over at the First Things blog, Keith Pavlischek seems to think that I am off base in thinking our presence in Iraq immoral, but thinking also that leaving would be more immoral. He calls me out for supposedly disagreeing with St. Thomas Aquinas. Yet I think Aquinas's second condition for waging war justly, which he cites, underscores my point: "Secondly, a just cause is required...."

Over at the First Things blog, Keith Pavlischek seems to think that I am off base in thinking our presence in Iraq immoral, but thinking also that leaving would be more immoral. He calls me out for supposedly disagreeing with St. Thomas Aquinas. Yet I think Aquinas’s second condition for waging war justly, which he cites, underscores my point: “Secondly, a just cause is required….”

I’ve written to Pavlischek and to First Things asking how invading Iraq pre-emptively on false premises meets that standard. No responses yet. 

Lawrence OP/Flickr

Thomas E. Ricks covered the U.S. military from 1991 to 2008 for the Wall Street Journal and then the Washington Post. He can be reached at ricksblogcomment@gmail.com. Twitter: @tomricks1

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