Is Terrorism Justified

The Beginning of the End of Terrorism: Is It Justified? In the most recent years, a rise in terrorism globally has invoked a string of United States military actions in response. Though these actions have been debated by pacifists to warmongers based on personal beliefs, Aquinas’s just war theory from Summa Theologica is the most impartial and distinguished method to justify or condemn the U.S. military’s involvement. There are numerous actions taken by the United States military that were, and still are, widely discussed; however, there is one action that has caused many Americans to either triumph or shake their head in disgust. This being the assassination of the leader of Al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden. Though many would disagree, that the …show more content…
Killing Osama bin Laden would hurt Al-Qaeda and diminish their actions; thus, restoring minute amounts of peace. The assassination terrorist groups were weakened through loss of a major contributor to their cause. The death of Osama bin Laden was largely symbolic to leaders enforcing radical Islam that there is no safety from the United States. The weakening of the empire established by Al-Qaeda allowed for more war criminals to be taken to Guantanamo Bay. Not only is this allowing the U.S. to completely follow the just war theory, but it also allows the U.S. to follow the maxims Sun Tzu set forth in the Art of War. As Sun Tzu states in his tenth maxim “those skilled in war subdue the enemy’s army without battle” (480). Eventually, the U.S. may be able to assert dominance over radical Islamic sections of the Middle East that peace can be restored by subduing war criminals from radical Islamic upbringing that threaten many nations. Many can argue that these possible war criminals may encompass civilians which avoids the overall goal of peace. Which very well may be true, but the U.S. army has detailed lists of known war criminals to avoid such