Nations going to war with the claim of national security raise many ethical problems. It is necessary to protect civilians but the war has its own harms in it. Taking the security excuse may obscure other interests such as power acquisition or acquisition of resources. This is against fundamental ethical values as well as cross-nation trust.
One such dilemma is to avoid causing harm to innocents. Military interventions against threats are likely to lead to loss of civil life. Leaders claim it is required to ensure security. But the issue of killing non-combatants brings to fore deep moral issues. Saving the life of one nation must not mean killing another one.
The issue of telling the truth becomes a major concern. Governments can overplay threats, or falsify intelligence in order to cause support in war. This avoids scrutiny in the eyes of the people and informed discussion. Democracy is undermined because citizens are not in a position to judge the essence of whether the war is necessary or not when there is maneuvering of fear by the leaders.
It is based on the respect of national sovereignty. When a country invades the territory of another country in the name of security, it takes away the right of self-determination. This is in contravention of international violations of norms against aggression. Acceptance of this justification on a large scale acts as a threat to international order as it allows dominant states to launch offense against inferior ones.
Using security as an excuse to go to war repeatedly makes an unsafe precedent. It reduces the amount of force necessary to use and dilutes the prohibitions on aggressive war. This pattern of violence proves to be detrimental in the long-term security and stability in the world which is against the declared security goal.
Conclusion:
Ethical conflicts are grave when national security becomes an excuse for war. It poses a danger to civilians, encourages governmental dishonesty, infringes the sovereignty of other countries and endangers making aggression a norm. Though it is necessary to have state protection, it is also vital to note that warfare causes a lot of suffering. Justifications of the necessity of security should be subjected to the harshest test of validation and ethical review in order to ensure that use of force becomes a truly one-time measure.
