Radley Balko is polling his readership to see which wars are justified. My friend Jim Henley replies thusly:

As an increasingly hardcore peacenik I am probably down, at this point, to half of WWII (vs the Germans - and yes, I believe American policy needlessly provoked war with Japan); sort of Afghanistan; maybe the American Revolution and probably some form of the Civil War. I’d also argue that the war to eject Iraq from Kuwait was justified under international law (collective self-defense), just not wise.

I suppose I’m not as dovish as Jim. Here are my responses:

The Revolutionary War: 100% Justified. Maybe even more. I know its fashionable among elite bloggers to revise the history of the Revolution to say that war wasn’t necessary. Frankly, if declaring martial law on a major metropolis for the failure of a few citizens to pay their taxes doesn’t strike you as objectionable, I’m not sure what does. The colonists bent over backwards to avoid war with Britain. Britain responded with increasingly oppressive measures. King George III wasn’t going to respect the colonists’ rights until he was forced to–history made that clear.

The War of 1812: The War was justified–the British were blockading American trade and forcing American citizens to serve in the Navy. The invasion of Canada to further some politicians’ imperial ambitions? Not so much.

Mexican-American War: This was a war of conquest. Pure and simple. Totally unjustified and a shameful chapter in our history.

Civil War: Justified, as the South’s primary motivation for succession was not government oppression, but rather the preservation of slavery. (see here for more detail)

Spanish-American War: A war of conquest propagandized as a “war for democracy.” Unjustified.

Philippine-American War: A war of conquest which unmasked the lies and propaganda used to sell the Spanish-American War.

World War I: What were the American interests again? Preserving English and French conquests? Unjustified.

World War II: Justified. Germany declared war on the U.S. Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. Yes, we blockaded Japanese oil, but we justifiably did so and the attack on Pearl Harbor was a disproportionate response.

Korea: What were the American interests again? Right. We didn’t have any. And our troops are still there, in harms way. Unjustified.

Vietnam: See Korea, minus the troops still being there part.

Gulf War: Would have been justified, were it not a one time fluke. The one time America took the lead to preserve international law. Given that we have since decided we don’t care about international law anymore, it looks in retrospect to be unjustified.

Afghanistan: Justified. They were harboring the rogue elements who attacked American soil.

Iraq: Unjustified. For innumerable reasons. It’s like the Spanish-American War and the Philippine-American War wrapped up in one.