Which American wars fall under the Just war doctrine?

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johnnyt3000 said:
catholic.com/quickquestions/can-a-catholic-believe-that-the-us-was-justified-in-its-decision-to-drop-atomic-bombs
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As issues like the atomic bombings remind us, there are two aspects to a just war: the justice of choosing violence in the first place (jus ad bellum) and the justice observed in the actual prosecution of the conflict (jus in bello). There is probably no actual war that can be judged 100% just by both criteria, since atrocious acts are committed even by the side that was originally responding to aggression.

Usagi.
 
Wowbagger said:
Catholic thinkers have debated every one of those wars since before they were fought. They continue to debate them today. Because the rightness or wrongness of each war is a particular judgement rather than a moral principle, it is impossible to reach an absolutely certain, yes-or-no, infallible answer.

But, if you want my opinion, distilled by much reading of all sorts of Catholic just war theorists and pacifists and such, here it is:

Clearly Just - jus ad bellum and jus in bello are rarely seriously disputed:
[none]

Probably Just: despite frequent and enthusiastic disputes, probably just under JWT:
World War II (point of contention: atom bomb, firebombings)
Civil War (for the Union) (point of contention: right of secession; fun fact: the Pope supported the South)
Iraq War (point of contention: whether peaceful recourse was possible; so-called “preemptive war doctrine” [a grave misnomer, btw])
Gulf War (see above)
Afghan War (point of contention: …various. Impossible to judge an ongoing war.)
Korean War (point of contention: did we have any business waging war in East Asia?)
War of 1812 (point of contention: America was attacked, but Americans seemed eager for war)

Morally Questionable / Ambiguous - Catholics are thoroughly divided on these:
American Revolution (point of contention: does taxation justify bloodshed?)
Vietnam War (point of contention: was this a winnable conflict?)

Probably Unjust:
Mexican-American War
Texan Revolution
World War I

Clearly Unjust:
Spanish-American War
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Great scholarship and exposition. Thanks.
 
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