The American Military And International Law Of War Essay

“When war is thrust upon the nation, the President had not only the authority but the responsibility to ‘resist force by force.’” –U.S. Supreme Court ruling of the Prize Cases, 1862 (67 U.S. 6335).

The farmers of our Constitution recognized the need for separate powers as well as checks and balances among the executive, legislative and judicial branches. This in turn helps to "provide for the common defense". Separation of powers prevents one branch from becoming excessively dominant over the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution of the United States of America.: In order to accede to the preamble and adhere in its goals, the Constitution ensures this is by clearly stating the

The American “way of war” is primarily based on the American interpretation of the national fundamentals and values to include capitalism and basic freedoms surrounding financial enterprising as applied in the democratic system. Along with these ideals concerning free marketing and democracy, the American “way of war” seeks to reinforce alliances with nations that uphold similar concepts and values through international trade and commerce. In doing so, the United States intrinsically denounces political ideologies that are contradictory, such as communism.

How did the new technologies of WWI affect soldiers fighting on the front lines? Please include at least three examples of new technologies in your answer

"I, _____, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God." (Title 10, US Code; Act of 5 May 1960 replacing the wording first adopted in 1789, with amendment effective 5 October 1962).

War, a state of armed conflict between different nations and states. Both nations Texas and Mexico were disputed on their countries borders. Many Americans felt like they wanted to go to war with Mexico and used any reason no matter how big or small to do it. America tried to meet with Mexican representatives to settle the borders, but neither side did much talking. The United States was not just in going to war with Mexico due to them picking on the smaller country (Mexico), Mexico was just defending the borders Mexico thought they had, and Polk sent troops near the border of Mexico and was unclear on his intentions.

The notion of an American way of war informs how scholars, policymakers, and strategists understand how Americans fight. A way of war—defined as a society’s cultural preferences for waging war—is not static. Change can occur as a result of important cultural events, often in the form of traumatic experiences or major social transformations. A way of war is therefore the malleable product of culturally significant past experiences. Reflecting several underlying cultural ideals, the current American way of war consists of three primary tenets—the desire for moral clarity, the primacy of technology, and the centrality of scientific management systems—which combine to create a preference for decisive, large-scale conventional wars with clear objectives and an aversion to morally ambiguous low-intensity conflicts that is relevant to planners because it helps them address American strategic vulnerabilities.

Much like the rest of the world, wars in the United States began before it was even considered a country. The revolutionary war was a brave and noble war fought by America’s earliest ancestors in the 1770s in the hopes of creating a better country for their prosperity. However, because it was not declared by an esteemed government, some would argue that it was not actually considered “just”. With the American Civil War, there were so many factors involved that the argument could be made both ways (2). Today, it has been decreed that the Civil War was fought entirely as an opposition to slavery in the South; however, at the time of the war, many more questions could be made as to the official reason. Because those battles were fought so long ago, theorists may only use the little information left behind to determine the justification of warfare.

In the sixth week of CIS610 – Information Warfare, we continued looking at the policies, governance, and operation of nation state information and cyber warfare. Since week five and six were combined I had already completed the readings which were required for week five and six. Along with this in week five I also completed the discussion board post and the rough draft for the major assignment. Last week in my journal I discussed the discussion board post which I created and the reading assignment and chose to leave the major assignment out of my week five journal so I would have something to discuss in week six.

1. How does public opinion affect foreign policy? Is public opinion permissive or constraining? Does the U.S. public support the use of force? Under what conditions?

During the 1970s a man named Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini was leading Islamic fundamentalists to oppose the pro-American Iranian government that was in charge by Mohammed Reza Shah Pahlavi. Protests were more often as time went on, but on February 14, 1979 Ayatollah took it to an extreme when armed Iranians took siege of a United States embassy. 102 Americans were taken hostage during the event and would stay there for a while.

The events of September 11th, 2001 will influence the lives of American's for years to come. Some American's will never fly on a commercial airliner again while others feel unsafe in their usual daily routine. Our country has felt a mix of emotions as the war on terrorism begins to unfold across the globe in Afghanistan. Yet I believe that a war on ignorance is about to unfold on our own soil. After the attacks the national news reports were filled with stories about Americans of Middle Eastern decent being targets for hat crimes and unnecessary violence. At this point in time, Americans of every gender, race and religion need to focus on who are nations true enemies are.

July 16, 1945: This date is one of the most important days in world history. It is the day that the United States successfully detonated an atomic bomb just outside the Los Alamos research facility in New Mexico. It is also the date that created a massive conundrum for newly inaugurated Harry S. Truman and his closest advisors. War with Germany was over but the end of the war in Japan was a long way off, and was becoming farther out of site. The island hopping strategy employed by MacArthur and friends was stalling out. It was becoming more and more clear that the war with the Empire of Japan would be fought harshly to the very last man of the Imperial Army. Harry Truman was faced with a choice: use this new immensely powerful super-weapon on the mainland of Japan, or invade the main island and suffer a massive loss of life for an already bleeding America and Japan. The eventual decision came down to the value of American soldiers’ lives. While Harry Truman may have believed it was the correct military decision, diary entries, letters to loved ones, and top secret minutes reveal that he was struggling with the moral aspect of taking so many civilian lives and “uniformly and extensively devastating” two cities of Japan.[1]

The western way of war consists of five foundations that have shaped a significant amount of military cultures; the foundations are superior technology, discipline, a finance system, innovation, and military tradition. Perhaps people believe that discipline is not one of the most important foundations of the western way of war, since people tend to emphasize technology. However, discipline is the key to maximizing the other four foundations before and during conflict. Historian Geoffrey Parker agrees that technology can give a military advantage, but it is not sufficient without superior discipline. That is because discipline consists of the ability of armies to act within battle plans even when not supervised, obey orders, exercise loyalty, and restrain their fears when faced with danger. Discipline as a western way of war has influenced military cultures from the Roman Empire to today’s militaries. Discipline shaped military cultures by how they prepared for war, effectively giving them the ability to act during combat and expanding commander’s operational reach, thus aiding in conflicts throughout history and increasing the likelihood of defeating the adversary.

War unfortunately still exists in the modern world and even though the characteristics of this human activity change from time to time, war is not going away for the foreseeable future. This reality makes understanding what war is and how its underlying features will be expressed in our present times, as well as the near future, a critical endeavor for constant study. One reason for this is that whatever the current understanding of war is, at any given time, effects the ways in which parties involved create and execute their strategies for carrying it out. Whether this be for the hopes of a quick end to violence from a moral humanitarian perspective or the desire for a decisive victory in order to minimalize resource expenditure, it remains necessary to have an appropriate strategy that works within the context of what war is. In their books The Nature of War in the Information Age and The Utility of Force, David Lonsdale and Rupert Smith, respectively, present useful arguments for helping to understand just that, what war is and is not in the modern world.