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“Just War Theory” vs. American Self-Defense

by Yaron Brook

This talk was delivered at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., March 14th, 2006.

The Bush administration’s pseudo-war is a self-sacrificial disaster. Nearly five years after President Bush declared “war on terrorism,” victory is nowhere in sight. American soldiers continue to die in Iraq for no clear self-defense purpose, while enemy regimes such as Iran and Saudi Arabia continue to sponsor Islamic terrorism and spread anti-Americanism without fear of reprisal. The cause of America’s continuing insecurity is not any practical inability to defeat our enemies—America can militarily crush any enemy it chooses—but our leaders’ unwillingness to do what is necessary to defeat them. The only path to American security is real war, self-interested war, a war of genuine American self-defense. In this talk, Dr. Brook presents the principles of “Just War Theory,” the altruistic theory guiding the Bush administration’s so-called “War on Terrorism,” and contrasts them with the principles of a proper, moral approach to American self-defense.

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