Dirty Hands

In an essay entitled "Political Action:  The Problem of Dirty Hands," Harvard political philosopher Michael Walzer noted that politicians can do terrible deeds in pursuit of overriding moral goals.  Walzer was examining the old question about immoral means for moral ends.

For me the best example is the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  Truman knew those bombs would kill thousands of civilians, including women and children who had nothing to do with the war.  He also knew that the battle for Okinawa had killed thousands of women and children, and Okinawa was not even a home island.  The invasion of Japan was scheduled to start in January 1946.  Up to a million American casualties were possible, to say nothing of millions of Japanese who would die, resisting even more fiercely than they had on Okinawa.

If Truman decided not to drop the A-bombs, his hands would be dirty from the invasion casualties.  If he dropped the bombs, his hands would be dirty from the American and Japanese troops and Japanese civilians killed.  No matter what he decided, he would have dirty hands.

On May 29 the New York Times published an article entitled "Secret 'Kill List' Proves a Test of Obama's Principles and Will."  The article explained how the drone program targets Al Qaeda operatives, but that Obama must approve every strike.  He has decided that as president, he is ultimately responsible for U.S. policy.  He has approved strikes in which there was a reasonable expectation that civilians would be killed.

Should the U.S. use drone strikes?  I am a member of the American Civil Liberties Union.  I don't believe that American citizens should be summarily executed without arrest and trial, and I know that we have killed U.S. citizens with drones.  Had we not, it is quite possible that hundreds of Americans would have died in Al Qaeda attacks planned by those who were killed.  Either way, the president's hands are dirty.

The best we can hope for, I believe, is that we have moral leaders who consider what they are doing and weigh their actions carefully.  After reading the article, I am convinced President Obama is such a leader.   I am reassured that he signs off on every drone attack, and I am glad I don't have to make those decisions.