Medicare vs The Iraq War?

[MillTownCath]

If you had to choose between the two, where would you prefer to have your tax dollars go to? Medicare or the Iraq War? And why? Thanks!

 

[Aelred_Minor]

Do you mean the war in Afghanistan? Why would we want to suddenly cut Iraq off now, after so much loss of lives and treasure, with combat missions already ended and plans to soon leave entirely anyway?

 

[GratefulFred]

As a Catholic, I believe that all lives are precious and deserve our best efforts to ensure each life has peace, freedom, and access to resources that sustain life.

Thus it cannot be an either or choice.

In round numbers:

37 million seniors (over age 65) in America.
31 million people in Iraq
31 million people in Afghanistan

Medicare IS GOING BROKE. We do need to pay more for Medicare both before we reach age 65 and after, when we pay for Part A, B & D.

But it seems rather selfish and unChristian to take money from our efforts to give Iraqis and Afghanis a better chance for peace and freedom.

Especially when you consider the most likely governors that would take over and go back to treating their people horribly. On what basis should we trust the Taliban, Al Qaeda, and Iran to treat their people and neighbors in a loving mannor that Christ would have them do? If Al Qaeda can re-establish a safe haven, will they not try to attack America again?

 

[MillTownCath]

As a Catholic, I believe that all lives are precious and deserve our best efforts to ensure each life has peace, freedom, and access to resources that sustain life.

Thus it cannot be an either or choice.

In round numbers:

37 million seniors (over age 65) in America.
31 million people in Iraq
31 million people in Afghanistan

Medicare IS GOING BROKE. We do need to pay more for Medicare both before we reach age 65 and after, when we pay for Part A, B & D.

But it seems rather selfish and unChristian to take money from our efforts to give Iraqis and Afghanis a better chance for peace and freedom.

Especially when you consider the most likely governors that would take over and go back to treating their people horribly. On what basis should we trust the Taliban, Al Qaeda, and Iran to treat their people and neighbors in a loving mannor that Christ would have them do? If Al Qaeda can re-establish a safe haven, will they not try to attack America again?

Peace and Freedom? Surely you realize that the Iraq war was an unjust war by Catholic standards?

 

[Ridgerunner]

Peace and Freedom? Surely you realize that the Iraq war was an unjust war by Catholic standards?

I guess the thread was a setup for reviving the nearly dead-horse Iraq War issue. But for those lurkers who don’t know about the Just War Doctrine of the Church, it’s as follows. When it comes to war, Catholics are allowed to use their prudential judgment in determining whether their support or participation is justified. Not to start this whole argument again, but simply to illustrate that there CAN BE another side to it, I add some of the most common arguments in its favor. Guessing that someone will want to present the same old arguments that have been reiterated on here ad nauseam, I will again emphasize that people CAN disagree with the conclusion that the Iraq War (which was really just the continuation of the “first” one) was just or unjust.

here they are:

At one and the same time:

the damage inflicted by the aggressor on the nation or community of nations must be lasting, grave, and certain; **Saddam Hussein started two aggressive wars, one of them a world war. He continued to engage in war by violating the terms of the truce he made with the Allies in “Iraq War-Phase I”. He committed acts of genocide. He was responsible for the deaths of upwards of a million people, and his murdering and torturing was continuous right up to the very end. **

all other means of putting an end to it must have been shown to be impractical or ineffective; UN resolutions, sanctions, “no-fly zones” and even counterstrikes did not prevent Saddam from continuing to commit genocide or from violating the terms of the truce, or from starving his own people. He was offered luxurious exile, but refused it.

there must be serious prospects of success; He’s no longer in power, which speaks for itself. And it was always fairly plain that he could not prevail against allied forces.

the use of arms must not produce evils and disorders graver than the evil to be eliminated. The power of modern means of destruction weighs very heavily in evaluating this condition.
Nobody seriously claims that Iraq is presently a danger to its neighbors. Nobody seriously claims that the continuation of the Iraq War resulted in more deaths than Saddam’s own actions did. No modern means of destruction (like ABC weapons) were employed by either side. The weaponry used was less causative of collateral damage than in any war before it.

And the poll choices are manifestly false choices. “Have you stopped beating your wife”?