As the prospect of war with Iraq looms in the minds of Americans as well as the watching world, we invited three respected minds to come and discuss the morality of such a war.

Does the just war theory as traditionally understood help to peel the layers of this complicated issue? Does the situation in Iraq and its behavior in the global community merit military action by Americans? What criteria must be met for a war to be considered “just?”

Christopher Hitchens, William Galston, and George Weigel addressed the moral questions that the situation with Iraq necessarily raises. Bill Galston, in particular, urged restraint in solving the problems created by Saddam Hussein's attempts at deception, reminding listeners that how the United States responds will inevitably create precedent for future conflicts. Christopher Hitchens continued his drumbeat against the "peaceniks" who falsely assume that "the U.S. started this," returning blame squarely on Saddam Hussein's regime. George Weigel argued that the just war theory provides moral parameters for decision-making, that the church does not have a monopoly on the theory, and that it exists to aid those in political authority.

Speakers

Christopher Hitchens is the I. F. Stone Fellow at the Graduate School of Journalism, U.C. Berkeley, Professor of Liberal Studies at the New School in New York City, and contributing editor to Vanity Fair. Born in 1949 in Portsmouth, England, Hitchens received a degree in philosophy, politics and economics from Balliol College, Oxford, in 1970. His most recent book is Why Orwell Matters (Basic Books, 2002). His other books include Imperial Spoils: The Case of the Parthenon Marbles (Hill and Wang, 1989); Blood, Class and Nostalgia: Anglo-American Ironies (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1990); For the Sake of Argument: Essays and Minority Reports (Verso, 1993); Letters to a Young Contrarian (Basic Books, 2001), and No One Left to Lie to: The Values of the Worst Family (Verso, 1999). Hitchens has been Washington editor of Harper''s and book critic for Newsday, and regularly contributes to such publications as Granta, London Review of Books, Vogue, New Left Review, Dissent and the Times Literary Supplement.

George Weigel is the author of Witness to Hope, a biography of Pope John Paul II. He is currently a Senior Fellow with Ethics and Public Policy Center after serving seven years as the President. Mr. Weigel is a nationally syndicated columnist in the Catholic press, and is an ooccasional op-ed columnist for the Los Angeles Times. He has written widely on Catholic social teaching, religion and democracy, and the just war tradition. His recent books include Soul of the World (Eerdmans, 1996), Idealism Without Illusions (Eerdmans, 1994) and The Final Revolution (Oxford University Press, 1992).

William Galston is the Saul I. Stern Professor of Civic Engagement and the Director of Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy at the University of Maryland. Dr. Galston was Deputy Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy during the first Clinton Administration and Executive Director of the National Commission on Civic Renewal, chaired by Sam Nunn and William Bennett. He is the author of many articles and books, including Liberal Pluralism: The Implications of Value Pluralism for Political Theory and Practice (Cambridge University Press, 2002) and Liberal Purposes: Goods, Virtues, and Diversity in the Liberal State (Cambridge University Press, 1991). Since 1995, Galston has served as a founding member of the Board of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy and as chair of the Campaign''s Task Force on Religion and Public Values. Galston’s teaching and research interests include political philosophy, social policy, family policy, normative analysis, education policy and civic renewal.

Participants List

Jay Ambrose, Scripps Howard News Service
Ruby Bailey, Detroit Free Press
Dan Balz, Washington Post
Michael Barone, U.S. News & World Report
Stephen Bates, Wilson Quarterly
Alison Boyd, Committee for a Free Iraq
Grattan Brown, American Enterprise Institute
Joseph Capizzi, Catholic University of America
David Coffin, New Hope Presbyterian Church
Bob Deans, Cox Newspapers
E. J. Dionne, Washington Post
Terry Eastland, Weekly Standard
Thomas Farr, U.S. Department of State
Andrew Ferguson, Bloomberg News
Suzanne Fields, syndicated columnist
Hillel Fradkin, president, Ethics and Public Policy Center
Brendan Frost, CCH
Craig Gilbert, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Tim Goeglein, The White House
James Hale, Committee for a Free Iraq
James Harding, Financial Times
Greg Headington, C. S. Lewis Institute
Bill Hillburg, Daily News of Los Angeles
Cragg Hines, Houston Chronicle
Greg Hitt, Wall Street Journal
Deborah Howell, Religion News Service
Kirsten Hunter, Pew Forum
Jonathan Kalisch, O.P.
Alice Kelley, CDF German Television
Brett Kincaid, American Studies Program
Irene Lagan, Arlington Catholic Herald
Steven Lagerfeld, Wilson Quarterly
Ernest Lefever, Ethics and Public Policy Center
Tod Lindberg, Policy Review
Dan Morgan, Washington Post
Paul Marshall, Freedom House
Ann McFeatters, Scripps Howard News Service
Heather Morton, Pew Forum
Mark O’Keefe, Newhouse News Service
David Ottaway, Washington Post
Gerard Perseghin, Catholic Standard
Sean Reilly, Mississippi Press
Roberto Rivera, BreakPoint Radio and Wilberforce Forum
Herb Schlossberg, Ethics and Public Policy Center
Gerald Seib, Wall Street Journal Russell Shaw, Our Sunday Visitor
Pat de Solenni, Family Research Council
Jay Tolson, U.S. News & World Report
Mark Tooley, Institute on Religion and Democracy
Karen Tumulty, Time
Douglas Turner, Buffalo News
David Von Drehle, Washington Post
Laurie Vuoto, speechwriter/freelance
Scott Walter, Philanthropy Roundtable
Anthony Walsh, O.P.
Peter Wehner, The White House
Angela White, American Studies Program