Is this a just War?

I am a Catholic, so I get my definition of "Just War" from the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

And before anyone starts screaming about the Church being against the war, don't preach about Catholocism unless you know what you are talking about. As a Catholic, I can have a different of opinion about whether I believe this is a just war. This is not like the abortion issue, where killing a baby is black and white.

from section 2309 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

The strict conditions for legitimate defense by military force require rigorous CONSIDERATION. The gravity of such a decsiion makes it subject to rigorous conditions of moral legitimacy. At one and the same time:

- the damage inflicted by the aggressor on the nation or community of nations must be lasting, grave, and certain;

- all other means of putting an end to it must have been shown to be impractical or ineffective;

- there must be serious prospects of success;

- the use of arms must not product evils and disorders graver than the evil eliminated. The power of modern means of destruction weighs very heavily in evaluating this condition.

The evaluation of these conditions for moral legitimacy belongs to the prudential judgment of those who have responsibility for the common good.

We can argue these points until the cows come home, but as a Catholic I can answer all these questions and still sleep with the decision that it is a just war. The Holy See felt like number 2 wasn't fully explored. I just think that 11 broken resolutions and a history of Saddam meant we couldn't wait any longer.

We also have to go on the information available at the time, (ie, Russia, Israel, the Clinton Admin, France, Britain, and Germany) all thought Saddam had WMD. The Blind idealogues on the left can't call Bush a liar, but then ignore the fact Clinton, Gore, Kerry, Albright, Putin, MI6, Tenet, etc, etc. all agreed at the time. I just don't believe they were all making this up for the hell of it.

Anybody who thinks that the Afghans and Iraqis are not better off, need to watch something other than CBS, The NYTimes and the Daily Show.

We clearly didn't start this war, Saddam and Islamo Fascist did.