War in Jewish Law

War To the poster from Montreal,
Your views are admirable and I understand what you are trying to say, however, its fairly obvious you have never fought a war. As a veteran of 2 tours in Iraq, I can tell you from personal experience that when your enemy is bent on your absolute destruction there is no chance of rehabilitation. I have seen it tried first hand, rehabilitation is something used for diseases and disorders not for War and Ideaology. I have a deep love and respect for the Iraqi people and can honestly say that I have done what I can for the innocents and helped to provide them with things they need and friendship and love and understanding but that still hasnt stopped our enemies from trying to kill us. So while i admire you desire to find a peaceful solution at all costs, in the reality of war it is highly unreasonable and actually more dangerous not just to the soldiers of that war but to the civilians Reply

Alternate methods of conflict resolution I would be in complete agreement with you if any of the above mentioned ideas were feasible and didn't greatly increase the risk of death to the on who would attempt to use them on a determined enemy.
As matters stand any military expert would point out that
a) These methods are not yet effective on the field of battle
b) they would end in the death of the one wielding them

History shows those bent on violence only change their human nature after military defeat -as in Japan and Germany after WW2, these countries then became pacifist Reply

Re. War in Jewish Law There is no justification for war if you can convince your "opponent" that war is unjustified. How about the duty to convince the "enemy" that there is another way other than to kill? Are we not adept at using socio-psychological techniques to shift human behaviour towards life and peace? Moreover, why must one defend themselves through killing another - why can't we use stun guns, traps, tranquilizers, and other devices to capture the "enemy" and then imprison him with the goal of rehabilitating him so that he may see that violence and war are horid acts? War is never ever justified if human nature is such that it can be shaped and influenced in a peaceful and more positive direction. Advertising firms would not be profitable if human nature was fixed and if social change was an impossibility. Reply