Commander John Sharpe joins John-Henry Westen for a frank look at how Catholic just war teaching collides with modern U.S. foreign policy. A decorated Navy officer, Sharpe recounts his own “cancellation before it was cool” after opposing the Iraq War, drawing on Aquinas, Vatican II, and Leo XIII to argue that America’s wars often fail the tests of just cause, last resort, and proportionality.
He exposes how leaders exploit fear, like the infamous “mushroom cloud” threat, to bypass moral analysis, leaving soldiers, families, and nations scarred. The conversation ranges from the false logic of punishing nations for possible future crimes, to the bipartisan collapse of moral coherence that saw Pat Buchanan and Noam Chomsky aligned against Iraq. With ties to Versailles, the Balfour Declaration, and today’s Middle East turmoil, Sharpe urges Catholics to reject propaganda before another war is waged under false pretenses.