Great article written by Matthias Dapfner, CEO of the huge German publisher Axel Springer AG. Originally published, as far as I can tell, in DIE WELT, Germany's largest daily newspaper. Calls the ball on Europe.

There is a sort of crusade underway, an especially perfidious crusade consisting of systematic attacks by fanatic Muslims, focused on civilians and directed against our free, open Western societies. It is a conflict that will most likely last longer than the great military conflicts of the last century -- a conflict conducted by an enemy that cannot be tamed by tolerance and accommodation but only spurred on by such gestures, which will be mistaken for signs of weakness.

Its short and worth the read.

On topic: Jon Trainer on Just War Theory. Great explanation for those (especially Christians) on either side of the topic. I researched this last year (specifically the Augustinian viewpoint) and personally believe that the war in Iraq fits most of the JWT criteria, some of them quite clearly. That doesn't, however, make it an easy decision by any means:

It is easy to read these principles, but much harder to apply them. You should be reassured by the fact that your military community studies these principles of warfare and works hard to operate within their constraints. However, there is no guarantee these guidelines will be heeded by all combatants. JTW [sic] is broken at some level in every conflict; however, JTW [sic] plays three vital functions: 1) to limit the scope of war, 2) to provide a common framework for diplomacy in matters relating to war, and 3) to give ethical and moral guidance to nations and individuals as they shape national policy and personal conviction.

Found Jon via Christian Carnival (which can currently be found here) - I'm working on a submission for this week but it may not be done in time for tomorrow's deadline, in which case it will be submitted for next week's CC.