ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that soldiers are indeed responsible for the justice of the wars they fight. It offers some arguments for rejecting the moral equality of soldiers. The chapter shows that the arguments for holding soldiers to be either invincibly or presumptively ignorant apply equally well to non-soldiers; thus, accepting the invincible ignorance of soldiers is tantamount to rejecting deliberative democracy. It presents a positive argument for holding soldiers morally accountable for the justice of their wars. It describes American officers are morally obligated to obey the Constitution, an obligation that, in turn, requires that they fight only those wars that are in compliance with the United Nations Charter. The chapter applies argument to the most recent Gulf War, showing that American officers may well have had a moral obligation to refuse to invade Iraq. The justice of war might be analogous to the American criminal justice system, but that analogy is significantly different from the one that Christopher draws.
