Washington D.C., Jul 12, 2016 / 23:08 pm
As the United States sends more troops to Iraq to help retake Mosul from the Islamic State, Catholics can view the action as just even while remaining vigilant about the long-term mission, one moral theologian said.
"Political order is a good that the just war theory affirms, and our efforts to assist the Iraqi government in bringing increased stability to Iraq is part of our ongoing responsibility that traces all the way back to our original intervention in Iraq," Dr. Joseph Capizzi, a professor of moral theology and ethics at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., told CNA.
The move should be seen as the U.S. trying "to remove ISIS from Iraq," he said, noting that the terror group is "a threat to the stability of that entire region," as well as that of Europe and the U.S., "and stability is a good," he added.
On Monday, Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced the U.S. would be sending 560 troops to Iraq to help the Iraqi Security Forces. Part of the mission would provide "infrastructure and logistical capabilities" at an airfield recently captured by Iraqi troops 40 miles south of Mosul, to help the Iraqis retake the country's second-largest city from the Islamic State.