Widely debated at the moment, the invasion's legality
will only be determined in retrospect. The United States' says Iraq
has brought the invasion upon itself, but had the opposite opinion
when Iraq was threatened by Iran twenty years ago. The U.N. has
been fighting off proposals from the U.S. and U.K. for automatic
triggers to invade since the Clinton Administration.
| COMMENTATORS |
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Noam Chomsky |
Chomsky reads early U.S. and U.K. threats against the UN
Charter: " There are legitimate ways to react to the
many threats to world peace. If Iraq’s neighbors feel threatened,
they can approach the Security Council to authorize appropriate
measures to respond to the threat. If the U.S. and Britain feel
threatened, they can do the same. But no state has the authority
to make its own determinations on these matters and to act as
it chooses; the U.S. and UK would have no such authority even
if their own hands were clean..." Noam
Chomsky 1998 in "Rogue States" |
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Ariel Dorfman |
In the balance are not only the dead and mutilated of Iraq
(and who knows how many from the invading force), but the very
real possibility that such an act of pre-emptive,
world-destabilising aggression could spin out of control and
lead to other despots pre-emptively
arming themselves with all manner of apocalyptic weapons and,
perhaps, to Armageddon. Not to mention how such an action seems
destined to recruit even more fanatics for the terrorist groups
who are salivating at the prospect of a US invasion. Ariel
Dorfman February 25, 2003 |
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Snr. John McCain |
"America is great not because of what she has done for
herself, but because of what she has done for others. In another
age, we helped liberate Europe from
Hitler’s tyranny, and ended Japanese imperialism in Asia.
In extraordinary acts of generosity, we helped rebuild Europe
and Japan and transform former enemies into the closest of allies.
I believe the liberation of Iraq will be judged by history to
be of similar nobility." Senator
John McCain (republican - Arizona), March 20, 2003 |
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Russia |
"Without corresponding resolutions of the U.N.
Security Council, this occupation will be illegal," Russian
Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov told Russian lawmakers last week
as U.S. and British troops crossed into Iraq. AP,
March 22, 2003 |
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UN resolution 1441 |
The United States argues that U.N. resolution 1441, passed
unanimously in November, provided sufficient authority for the
U.S.-led war. That resolution threatened Baghdad with "serious
consequences" if it failed to show it had handed over or
destroyed its weapons of mass destruction. AP,
March 22, 2003 |
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international law |
Bush signaled that he did not
want to waste time in debating the nuances of international
law. "It is not a question of authority, it is a question
of will," he told the nation. AP,
March 22, 2003 |
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Iran - Iraq War |
From the early 1980s: "The United States finds the present
Iranian regime's intransigent refusal to deviate from its avowed
objective of eliminating the legitimate government of neighboring
Iraq to be inconsistent with the accepted norms of behavior
among nations and the moral and religious basis which it claims."
National
Security Archive |
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Religion |
" As a Christian and as a president who was severely
provoked by international crises, I became thoroughly familiar
with the principles of a just war, and it is clear that a substantially
unilateral attack on Iraq does not meet these standards. This
is an almost universal conviction of religious leaders, with
the most notable exception of a few spokesmen for the Southern
Baptist Convention who are greatly influenced by their commitment
to Israel, based on eschatological, or final-days, theology."
ex
President Jimmy Carter, March 16, 2003, The Age "Principles
of a just war condemn US campaign" |
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legality
of invasion