John E. Farley

The following viewpoint was written in 2002 when Congress was considering a resolution (passed in October 2002) that would give President George W. Bush authority to use American military force against Iraq, both to enforce United Nations mandates calling for Iraq to destroy its weapons of mass destruction and to protect the United States from the “continuing threat” posed by Iraq’s regime. In the viewpoint John E. Farley argues that American military action against Iraq cannot be justified on either moral or practical grounds. He contends that an attack on Iraq cannot be justified as a war of self-defense because Iraq has not attacked the United States or any of its allies. Farley also claims that such a war will not make America more secure and will likely exacerbate the...