An interesting note from Jason Papas, over at Liberty and Culture [1]:
The great Roman orator, statesman, and philosopher, Marcus Tullius Cicero is a father of the theory of “just war;” but Cicero’s version differs substantially from Augustine, Aquinas, and Hugo Grotius. For Cicero, war has a clear purpose which determines when to fight and how each enemy should be fought. From De Officiis:
“The only excuse, therefore, for going to war is that we may live in peace unharmed; and when the victory is won, we should spare those who have not been blood-thirsty and barbarous in their warfare. For instance, our forefathers actually admitted to full rights of citizenship the Tusculans, Acquians, Volscians, Sabines, and Hernicians, but they razed Carthage [in the 3rd Punic War] and Numantia [in Spain, 134 BC] to the ground.”
For Cicero, the nature of the enemy determines the means to bring about a lasting peace. A barbarian enemy is fought to the death.
It seems to me that Mr Bush attempted to wage such a war in the middle east… and where we have run into problems is where we have altered that plan, so as to quiet the anti-war liberals.