1. When war is waged, it is either as a last resort to defend possessions (both tangible and abstract) or to gain them. In America's case, we always go to war for the former reason. Imagine if we stubbornly refused to go to war. We would be powerless as other countries fought for our land and threatened our freedom. If we refuse to kill people, they will kill us. If we go to war, we can save ourselves.
2. The killing that takes place during war is not murder. Murder is often remarkably one-sided, while war is practically an agreement. Both sides are usually prepared to fight and know who to shoot. Of course, civilian casualties resemble murder as the victim has no really chance to fight back, nor do they wish to. Also, while murder is without good reason, this isn't always the case in war. If killing five innocent people will save twenty, it should be apparent what must be done.
3.War is the crudest form of conflict resolution known to man. It begins when all other desirable forms of negotiation are exhausted; the conflict is resolved by causing the necessary loss of life to force the enemy's surrender. Each side will attempt to harm and threaten to harm the opponent until a side finds concession preferable to extinction. A war can begin for a number of reasons, but the fear of death acts as a driving force every time.
4. Pearl Harbor is a great example of a lack of morality in war. The attack resulted in the death of 57 civilians and over two thousand deaths of unprepared servicemen. The act of declaring war with a bombing run is perhaps the least immoral act possible; without giving the opponent the opportunity to prepare is inconsistent with the morals of armed conflict. Battles in the middle of a war, however, are usually appropriate, even if atrocities like chemical warfare are utilized. This is because both sides go into a war expecting to die and accepting the results.
5. In the video game "Battlefield 3," three Russian soldiers invade Paris and kill its policemen as they rush to defuse a nuclear bomb. They end up killing a few dozen innocent people, but they are fighting to save the hundreds of thousands of residents of Paris and the millions that would die in the resulting world war. The Russians know they are morally sound because they understand how guilty they would be had they ignored the threat.
6. War is, without a doubt, an atrocity. Within the war, however, is a universal effort to minimize the horrors. In the end, men and women will walk the fields damp with blood and surrounded with the unsettling silence that slowly replaces the groans of the dying. Both sides imagine this; many have seen it before. Both sides seek to keep their graves, and often the opponents' graves, as empty as possible. Unfortunately, both sides realize, this can only be done by beating the enemy into submission.
