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Is the War on Iraq Morally Defensible? Will There be an Anti-Semitic Backlash?

Jewish communities around the world are divided in their feelings about the attack on Iraq, but united in their concern that Israel could be endangered — and that they themselves could suffer an anti-Semitic backlash as a result of this war: The U.S. administration and President Bush have said that the war on Iraq is legal and justified. They base their arguments on Saddam Hussein's resistance to U.N. resolutions over the past twelve years, most particularly U.N. resolution 1441 last November where the Security Council voted 15-0 that Saddam Hussein must disarm or face "serious consequences." That said, the Pope, the Dalai Lama and many other religious leaders from a broad range of spiritual traditions, as well as vast numbers of international citizens disagree. They have argued that UN inspections were containing Saddam Hussein, that the U.S. hasn't made its case well enough, that the danger he poses the world does not warrant war and that war is a legally sanctioned form of violence that is not ethically or morally justified. Is this war…or any war morally defensible? Will there be an anti- semitic backlash?