9.11memory？ "What We're Fighting For: A Letter from America"

http://www.tokyovalley.com/yahoo_blog/article/article.php

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"summary"

Preamble

AT TIMES it becomes necessary for a nation to defend itself through force of arms. Because war is a grave matter, involving the sacrifice and taking of precious human life, conscience demands that those who would wage the war state clearly the moral reasoning behind their actions, in order to make plain to one another, and to the world community, the principles they are defending.

We affirm five fundamental truths that pertain to all people without distinction:

   1. All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.
   2. The basic subject of society is the human person, and the legitimate role of government is to protect and help to foster the conditions for human flourishing.
   3. Human beings naturally desire to seek the truth about life's purpose and ultimate ends.
   4. Freedom of conscience and religious freedom are inviolable rights of the human person.
   5. Killing in the name of God is contrary to faith in God and is the greatest betrayal of the universality of religious faith.
We fight to defend ourselves and to defend these universal principles.


What are American Values?

At times our nation has pursued misguided and unjust policies. We cannot urge other societies to abide by moral principles without simultaneously admitting our own society's failure at times to abide by those same principles. What do we value? The clearest political expression of a belief in transcendent human dignity is democracy. Some people assert that these values are not universal at all, but instead derive particularly from western, largely Christian civilization. We believe in the universal possibility and desirability of human freedom. We believe that certain basic moral truths are recognizable everywhere in the world. 


What about God?

One response is to outlaw or repress religion. Legal repression radically violates civil and religious freedom and is incompatible with democratic civil society. Socially, governmental establishment of a particular religion can conflict with the principle of religious freedom, a fundamental human right. In addition, government control of religion can cause or exacerbate religious conflicts and, perhaps even more importantly, can threaten the vitality and authenticity of religious institutions. We have a secular state - our government officials are not simultaneously religious officials - but we are by far the western world's most religious society. For Americans of religious faith, the challenge of embracing religious truth and religious freedom has often been difficult. 


A Just War?

WE RECOGNIZE that all war is terrible, representative finally of human political failure. The idea of a "just war" is broadly based, with roots in many of the world's diverse religious and secular moral traditions. To seek to apply objective moral reasoning to war is to defend the possibility of civil society and a world community based on justice.

The principles of just war teach us that wars of aggression and aggrandizement are never acceptable. The primary moral justification for war is to protect the innocent from certain harm. A just war can only be waged against persons who are combatants. We use the terms "Islamicism" and "radical Islamicist" to refer to the violent, extremist, and radically intolerant religious-political movement that now threatens the world, including the Muslim world.

This extremist movement claims to speak for Islam, but betrays fundamental Islamic principles. 


Conclusion
WE PLEDGE TO DO all we can to guard against the harmful temptations - especially those of arrogance and jingoism - to which nations at war so often seem to yield. At the same time, with one voice we say solemnly that it is crucial for our nation and its allies to win this war. We fight to defend ourselves, but we also believe that we fight to defend those universal principles of human rights and human dignity that are the best hope for humankind.

One day, this war will end. We hope that this war, by stopping an unmitigated global evil, can increase the possibility of a world community based on justice. We wish especially to reach out to our brothers and sisters in Muslim societies. We say to you forthrightly: We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. In hope, we wish to join with you and all people of good will to build a just and lasting peace.

to be continued...