Revisiting Just Cause (E130)
From The Ancient Art of Modern Warfare by Chris Mayer National Security and Strategy Consultant
March 16, 2026 · 9 min · Episode 131
About this episode
Chris Mayer revisits his assessment of Just Cause in the context of recent military actions against Iran.
In the last episode, I said that I would compare we know about Operation Epic Fury against the Weinberger-Powell doctrine for the use of American military force. I need to push that off for a week. Current events – and some pushback from my previous episode – require me to revisit my assessment of Just Cause in our attacking Iran. I stand by my initial assessment in Episode 128, which I recorded before our attack. In that episode I expressed my opinion that Humanitarian Intervention was a valid argument for both Just Cause and Last Resort. Nonetheless, I included a caveat from that episode where I said that the reality of a military operation against Iran would probably look different than what I proposed. It has, and so a review is important. The information in this podcast is my own opinion and does not represent the views of the U.S. Department of Defense or any other organization I am or have previously been associated with. Holst, G. The Planets: Mars Bringer of War, downloaded from Internet Archive Kiilstofte, J., The Cavalry, Machinamasound (Licensed)
People in this episode
Host: Chris Mayer
Topics covered
- military intervention
- humanitarian intervention
- Operation Just Cause
- Weinberger-Powell doctrine
- current events
- Iran
Keywords
- Just Cause
- Operation Epic Fury
- military force
- humanitarian intervention
- Weinberger-Powell doctrine
- Iran
- current events
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: U.S. Department of Defense
Products: The Cavalry
Books & works: The Planets: Mars Bringer of War
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