Book Review Just War Against Terror
In Just War Against Terror Elshtain addresses a topic that is as applicable to modern politics as any. ... He introduces his book and hints at his points. ... The author points out that any misdiscription of the events that took place on September eleventh can be cancerous to the theme of his book and to our overall foreign policy. ... He makes the self explanatory statement that a terrorist seeks to takeout as many people as possible civilian or military whereas a just fighter lives by the rules of engagement and only seeks to take out combatants. ... The next two chapter of the book are devoted to the definition of just war and using the definition to justify our war on terror. ... He cites the in hello requirements of a just war; proportionality and discrimination. ... He then attacks the idea that the minute more terrorists are killed then the amount of people killed in the suicide attacks the war becomes unjust, and also attacks the projected numbers of people killed in the war on terror. ... Elshtian then goes into a chapter that describes the trend in scholarship since the Vietnam War. ... The next point that the author attempts to make is that the Islamic extremists do think of us as the “great Satan,” and that we will never be free from terror as long as people that feel this way are in our midst. ... The problem with peace in the view of Elshian is that people do not understand peace, and sometimes war can be viewed as peace. ... The general flow of the book is very good. ... One strong chapter in the book is the chapter that asks the question of the relevance of our War on terrorism, and questions its justice. ... One final note is that that it is evident that the author did a lot of research when preparing for this book and all of his ascertains are well supported by 50 pages of appendix and works cited. Towards the end of the book you get the feeling like Elshian had 60 pages of text left and 5 more major points to get across. Due to that it seems like the last part of the book is rushed and ideas may not be supported with overwhelming factual evidence. One chapter which could probably be excluded for the book, not because it is not interesting, but because it lacks relevance, is the chapter on Niebur and Tillich.