Philosophy, War, and Decisions

        The book Behind Enemy Lines is about different situations in history where soldiers go behind enemy lines to complete dangerous missions. For example, a special ops team goes behind enemy lines to put mines on the Iraqi fleet in case the US declare war on them. Since this is a non-fiction, it is much easier write about it connecting to philosophy. War is a good topic connecting with philosophy.
     
        On September 11, 2001, two airplanes, piloted by Al-Qaedan terrorists collided with the World Trade Centers Towers. Because of this attack, President George W. Bush declared war on terrorism in the Middle East. There he sent American soldiers to fight and kill my Al-Qaedans. During those years, many Middle Eastern civilians have died including many soldiers from both sides of the conflict. When Bush was confronted, he said he is doing justice. His definition of justice according to his actions is taking revenge or avenging someone or something that has wronged you. He had a choice whether to send troops into the Middle East or take some other action. Many people considered this a bad choice while some considered it a good one.     But what is a good or bad choice? We make our own choices, either good or bad. Good choices help you and may also help other people while bad choices hurt you and other people. Bush's choice helped us show that we aren't afraid of terrorists. But that choice killed many Americans and Middle Eastern civilians. So would this be considered a bad choice. My opinion is yes, it was a bad decision.

         The leader of the special ops team, Troy had to make a similar decision. He had the choice of putting those mines on the Iraqi fleet. He chose that he would. If he didn't put those mines, the US would have lost many ships, soldiers and supplies. The Iraqis would have also lost men and ships. Because he put those mines, he saved American lives, ships and supplies but those mines killed some Iraqis and destroyed many Iraqi ships. Was that a good choice? It probably was. Another story was about a baseball player going undercover in  Nazi Germany to assassinate a German scientist rumored to be building a nuclear bomb. In the end, he decided not to kill him. And that was a good choice because that scientist was actually working for America. If the baseball player had assassinated him, the US would have lost a good ally.

        So the next time you need to make a decision, think about the outcomes of the choice. Are they going to be good or bad? Are they going to help you and people around you or hurt them? Is it necessary to make this decision?