The Justice of Ending the War Iran Started
Best-selling author Peter Schweitzer said this week that the USA didn’t start the war with Iran. We are ending the war Iran started with us and the world 47 years ago.
That’s exactly right.
When in 1979 Ayatollah Khomeini plunged the Persian people into medieval darkness, held 52 Americans hostages for 444 days, started funding terrorist movements across the Middle East, and began to chant daily “Death to America,” the Iran Islamic Republic began a war we are now finishing.
It is just to oppose and defeat evil. Here’s why.
The Justice of Ending the War Iran Started
The Bible says “there is a time for war and a time for peace” (Ecclesiastes 3:7,8). It also tells us to “hate evil” (e.g. Proverbs 8:13, Romans 12:9) because God does as it hurts those made in his image.
Sometimes that means militarily killing tyrants/armies of evil regimes through “unconditional surrender” such as Hitler’s Third Reich and Japan’s imperialism. Right-thinking people cheered for “V-E Day” (Victory in Europe Day) on May 9, 1945, and also “V-J Day” (Victory over Japan Day) on August 15, 1945.
They will do so again when “V-IIR Day” (Victory over the Iran Islamic Republic) takes place soon. Ninety-three million Iranians will be set free and millions more (including Israelis) can live in peace.
Yes, there are many different kinds of war–greedy wars, selfish wars, foolish wars, and just ones.
I will let Dr. Richard Land make the case for the justice of “Epic Fury” (slightly edited).
Is Operation Epic Fury a Just Cause?
By Dr. Richard Land
President Trump has launched Operation Epic Fury against the ultra-terrorist cabal that has been operating the Islamic terrorist state controlling the country of Iran since 1979. Since that date, they have been fomenting terror and revolution throughout the Middle East and the world.
The Iran terrorist state has been killing Israelis and Americans, as well as their fellow Iranians and Islamic compatriots who do not agree with them. The mullahs have labeled America as the “Great Satan” and Israel as the “Little Satan” and have pledged themselves to the destruction of both. It has often been reported that they have openly declared that Iran could “do with one or two atomic weapons what Hitler failed to do” — eliminate the Jews!
At the grievous expense of their own people, the Iranian mullahs have spent their country’s impressive oil riches in pursuit of weapons of mass destruction — including nuclear weapons and the guided missiles to deliver them.
In order to deal morally with dilemmas and crises precisely like this, Western Civilization and the Christian faith have developed “just war” theory. Building on Greco-Roman philosophies and people like Aristotle and Plato, the great Christian theologians Augustine (354-430 A.D.) and Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274 A.D.) promulgated just war theory — the circumstances under which Christians should participate in armed conflict and what the acceptable means are under which they could participate.
The requirements are:
1) Just cause. This requirement excludes wars of conquest for material gain or wars of revenge. A “just cause” does not include subjugating the citizens of other countries.
2) Must be defensive. Just war theory would disqualify offensive wars. This does not mean that nations have to wait to be attacked. If it is clear that other nations are actively preparing to attack you, you do not have to wait until they act. In the Six-Day War in 1967, Egypt, Syria, and Jordan were actively in final preparations to attack Israel. Israel struck first, destroyed the Egyptian Air Force on the ground, and won the war in the first two hours of the conflict.
3) Last Resort. Every reasonable effort should be made to resolve conflict before violence is used. This does not require endless delays.
4) Noncombatant Immunity: Under no circumstances should civilians be deliberately targeted, and great care should be taken to avoid or minimize civilian casualties if at all possible.
5) Prudential Judgment. Is it likely that the good gained from armed conflict will outweigh the cost in human life and suffering? For example, it is difficult to imagine that the European governments that plunged that continent into what is now known as World War I would have ignited that horrible conflagration that decimated an entire generation of British, French, German, Austrian, and Italian young men had they been able to foresee it.
Applying these criteria to the American and Israeli intervention in Iran, it is clear that they meet just war criteria. President Trump and our government, along with our Israeli allies, made it clear that we had repeatedly tried nonviolent initiatives and then limited violent actions (the attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities), and the Iranian mullahs remained openly defiant.
I suspect the critical turning point was when the Iranian negotiators evidently bragged that they still had significant amounts of enriched nuclear material (enough to make 11 atomic bombs very quickly, perhaps in less than a month). When they said that, I suspect the American negotiators (and I know the Israeli negotiators) said, “That’s it! Time is up. We must go.”
President Trump authorized the lethal use of force and said, “We are doing this to give your country back to you. Now is your chance to take your country back from the mullahs who hijacked it in 1979.”
I don’t know this, but I suspect that the Israelis may have said, “That’s it. We cannot gamble any longer. America, please do this with us, or we will be forced to do it alone.” The problem is, the Israelis cannot guarantee de-nuclearizing Iran without using their own nuclear arsenal (which they have). This would have involved the first use of nuclear weapons since Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.
It must always be remembered that the “worst” (the Holocaust) happened to the Jews. They remember. They will not allow any resource they possess to go unused to prevent it from happening again. If the choice is they get nuked or they nuke them, Iran will be nuked! Remember, the mullahs have probably murdered as many as 30,000 of their own people who were demonstrating against them in the last 45 days.
In conclusion, resisting aggression and terrorism is an essential ingredient in maintaining a civilized society.
As British philosopher John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) concluded about two centuries ago:
“A man who has nothing which he cares about more than he does about his personal safety is a miserable creature who has no chance of being free unless made so and kept so by the existence of better men than himself. As long as justice and injustice have not terminated their ever-renewing fight for ascendency in the affairs of mankind, human beings must be willing…when need is, to do battle for the one against the other.”
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Some final observations about finishing the war Iran started.
The 53 Democrats who voted this week against recognizing the Iran Islamic Republic as a state sponsor of terror should be soundly voted out of office in the midterms. They are either willfully ignorant or deceived, and do not represent their people and the danger Iran poses to the world.
Whenever a nation is at war, we should be sober, not flippant, when any person is killed. Life is precious and we, too, will stand before God’s perfect justice one day.
Just war, when it is required, is a necessary evil to protect the greater good. In this case, 93 million people are crying out (and dying) for freedom. Millions more in the Middle East and world need protection from nukes.
The evil Iran Islamic Republic started this war in 1979.
We are justly finishing it in 2026.
