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Eisenhower's Darlan Deal

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What was Eisenhower's moral reasoning behind the Darlan Deal using some of Anthony Hartle's ethic principles?

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Solution Summary

The expert determines what Eisenhower's moral reasoning behind the Darlan Deal using some of Anthony Hartle's ethic principles.

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Here, I'll talk about Hartle's views and its applicability to General Eisenhower's (and President Roosevelt's) concept of making a deal with Admiral Darlan.

Hartle's basic viewpoints, from Moral Issues in Military Decision Making are outlined in the following:

Ethics derive from the society that gives the military its foundation.
Military ethics differ a bit because of the significance of protecting society; hence, military ethics are looser than ethics for you and me.
This "loose" ethical code is only partial.
The tasks of the military need to be completed efficiently, but there are limits to tactics
Duty trumps consequences.
Ends do not automatically justify the means.
Professional military work contains its own moral constraints.
Morality of acts are independent of consequences.
On page 5 of Hartle's famous work, he seems to justify the use of certain carpet bombing techniques on French cities if there is a reasonable hope of a quick end to the war.
American values lie at the root of all military ethics.

Now, the Darlan Deal is summarized here:

France had surrendered to Hitler.
There was a large French presence in North Africa not under German control.
The US wanted to invade this territory (Algeria) and use the French troops there against Hitler's forces in the rest of North Africa
Since the US wanted to fight the German occupiers in Africa, the view was to liberate all of France. This fitted perfectly with the "American values" stress of Hartle.
Roosevelt also wanted to satisfy the Soviets by opening a second front against Hitler.
UK was losing the war in Africa; the free French forces were clearly in trouble.
This would mean a direct confrontation with Hitler - the US was now totally committed to the war (we're talking about 1942 here - Hitler had invaded the USSR).
Roosevelt and Eisenhower claimed that the US wanted no additional territory; this was a war of liberation.

Here is Eisenhower's statement (http://www.ibiblio.org/pha/policy/1942/421107d.html):

He said:

"Frenchmen of North Africa, the forces which I have the honor of commanding come to you as friends to make war against your enemies.
This is a military operation directed against the Italian-German ...

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