A reader writes

Any thoughts on the attempted terrorist attack on Christmas?

Put me down as completely opposed.

Specifically: treat the guy like a terrorist or enemy combatant VS. a criminal suspect?

Oh. That. Well, being as I am not a lawyer or any sort of person with any expertise in such matters, I basically haven’t given it any thought. My rude and uninformed opinion is, “We know he tried to murder a lot of people, so let’s put him in prison forever.” Beyond that, the normal standards of civilization apply: treat him humanely. Milk him for as much info as we can get from him.

Is there a war on terror VS case by case man-made disasters?

I’m afraid I could not decode that question. Sorry.

Some argue a criminal defendant approach looks to punish for PAST behavior VS a enemy combatant approach looks to PREVENT future attacks through intelligence seeking.

Does it have to be either/or?

This subject may be off your radar screen, but I was just wondering. Maybe you’ve had a long, detailed post on your philosophy of war and terror attacks, but I haven’t culled through your archives.

I don’t have a detailed philosophy. My main purpose on this blog, with respect to the GWOT, has been to assert basic principles of Catholic teaching, particularly those principles that tend to get short shrift from some (not all) Faithful Conservative Catholics[TM] who dislike certain aspects of the Church’s teaching such as “treat prisoners humanely” and “you shall not do evil that good may come of it” and who want to make the US into a torture state because they think it will save their miserable skins.

I basically think that Just War doctrine is a useful summary of how to approach the problem of Defending Yourself from Violent Aggression. I wish more Catholics took it seriously instead of cherry-picking it for the bits they like and then supplementing it with the cowardly torture and murder policies of a war criminal like Dick Cheney.