How do I save my honor? : war, moral integrity, and principled resignation /

In this book, Felice (Eckerd College) explores the moral responsibility of civil servants, government leaders, and soldiers in time of war. He argues that when government actions conflict with a person's moral sensibilities, public officials must inevitably confront the challenge of how to reconcile the demands of morality with continued service. Since few studies address the challenge of principled resignation, this analysis makes an important contribution to the literature on international ethics, providing both a philosophical exploration of wartime moral obligations and illustrations of how individuals have sought to address incompatible moral claims. Felice illustrates the challenge of wartime policy dilemmas with case studies of US soldiers and diplomats as well as British government officials who resigned over the Iraq War. Although this is a competent study, the author's arguments for principled resignation would have been stronger had he emphasized the morally ambiguous nature of wartime policies and the probabilistic nature of all governmental decision making. Resignations are rare not because people lack honor but rather because wartime policies can rarely be classified as simply right or wrong, good or bad. Summing Up: Recommended. General readers and all undergraduate students. M. Amstutz Wheaton College

That iconic Bush administration dilemma-how should military or State Department functionaries have registered their opposition to the Iraq War?-is mulled over in this philosophical treatise-cum-antiwar manifesto. Taking Colin Powell as an object lesson, political scientist Felice leans toward "principled resignation" rather than working within government to change policy as the more honorable and effective response for government officials charged with prosecuting a war they thought was wrong. His scholarly backdrop cites just war theory, philosophers from Aristotle to Kant and Thoreau, and his own interview with ethicist Peter Singer, but he relies on case studies of American and British officials and soldiers who resigned, or refused to fight, to carry the argument. Through their rambling statements, the author rehashes a substantive brief against war and its justifications, and hammers home high-minded verities about ordinary citizens' duty to resist unjust wars. The book seems aimed at a limited audience that is both convinced of the war's immorality and positioned to derail, not just deplore it. Other readers may find it less than incisive. (July) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved