Declaring War, Essay Example

There are so many causes of wars around the globe. However, politicians are sometimes to blame for many of the wars because it is possible to contain them. Statistically, at least 90% of wars fought around the world can be avoided if necessary action was taken to deal with conflicts that cause them. With this in mind, it is quite clear that there are no justifications for the many wars that have been fought in this and the previous centuries. Whereas war can be used in dealing with various conflicts, it does not make sense to declare it on something that can only be contained.

One of the essential pillars of conflict resolution is fact-finding. This implies that, conflicting parties or states should in the first place try to get the clear picture of a situation in hand before rushing into conclusions or declaring war on another state. In this case, war is only taken as the last option after determining that the actions of any of the parties have a severe negative implication on the people. As seen, this is not the case with many situations around the globe, with many countries rushing in for war, even before finding facts on the contentious issues. The Syrian case is a good example. Even before UN investigators had been sent to Syria to find out whether the troops used chemical weapons against the civilians and rebels, the President Obama and his Secretary for State were already calling for war.

Containing a conflict is possible, if parties in the conflict can be restraint and observe patience just for a while. Whereas a country may have a problem with another, politicians need to know that war shall indeed cause more damage, even if it could in the result in the party declaring war getting its way. For instance, President George Bush decided to declare war on Iraq, over the manufacture of weapons of mass destruction. However, this issue could have been solved through consideration of facts and the need to deal with the issue without use of force. Ten years after the war, the United States is still paying up for the war, and yet no evidence of such weapons has been revealed.