The Moral Fog of War

Abstract

Military supporters often conflate political and moral discourse, under the assumption that war is a form of community self-defense, and the nation’s survival supersedes all other considerations. Government officials may regard their efforts to advance the economic interests of a nation as instrumental to securing the well-being of their citizenry, but in opting for war, they effectively divide humanity into distinct, stratified classes, according to what are deemed morally irrelevant properties within the bounds of civil society.

Helicopters are strafing the city with their guns, and so, you know, already you hear explosions starting off, and they’re tellin’ us, “Your rules of engagement have changed: anybody that’s in this city is bad.” ¹

—US lieutenant corporal Travis Williams