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May
30, 2003
Bush's Illegal War
Let Us Count
the Violations
By DANIEL BACHER
Burns Weston, Director of the University of Iowa
Center for Human Rights and a leading authority on international
human rights law, contends that the U.S. and British war in Iraq
was completely illegal, according to the existing body of international
law regarding military interventions.
Weston's contention occurs at a time
when human rights activists in many countries are filing lawsuits
against the U.S. and British governments for war crimes in Iraq.
A Belgian lawyer on May 14 filed a suit against General Tommy
Franks, commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, under Belgium's law
that allows its courts to try foreigners for war crimes. Lawyer
Jan Fermon filed the suit in a Brussels court on behalf of 19
Iraqi victims of cluster bombs and U.S. attacks on ambulances
and civilians.
The Bar Association of Athens, Greece
said it will also file a suit against British officials, including
Prime Minister Tony Blair, at the International Criminal Court
- the recently created tribunal for cases of war crimes, crimes
against humanity and genocide.
The long implications of the illegal
intervention in Iraq - and so-called anti-terrorism laws like
the Patriot Act - are alarming for the future of our country
and the world. What Weston and other human rights experts see
in Iraq - rather than a "Pax Americana" - is the imposition
of an aggressive military empire designed to control resources
to offset future economic competition from the European Union
(EU) and China.
"Our country is moving further and
further into a peculiarly American type of fascism that has its
roots in the belief that international law doesn't matter,"
said Weston.
This is strong, powerful talk for a legal
scholar who carefully prefaced his talk by emphasizing that he
wasn't a pacifist and believed that "use of force to depose
Saddam Hussein may have been necessary."
Weston, at a talk sponsored by Sacramento
Yolo Peace Action and other peace and human rights groups in
Sacramento in May, went point by point through how the Iraq War
violated Articles 51 and 39 of the United Nations Charter and
other international laws.
Article 51 of the U.N. Charter provides
that "Nothing in the present Charter shall impair the inherent
right of individual or collective self-defence if an armed attack
occurs against a Member of the United Nations, until the Security
Council has taken measures necessary to maintain international
peace and security."
Bush and Blair tried to justify the intervention
on the presence of so-called Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)
and by drawing an implicit connection of the Hussein regime to
Al Quaeda.
"Neither of these contentions stood
the test of scrutiny," said Weston. "No WMD ever existed
at the ready with a hands-on-the-trigger scenario. Not only were
these weapons ever found, but there is no evidence that they
could have been deployed even if they had been found."
Regarding Bush and Blair's claims that
Saddam supported "terrorism," Weston said it was "difficult
to believe that there was any serious connection with Al Quaeda,
especially when bin Laden saw Saddam as an infidel, although
he supported Hamas and Hezbollah."
"To suggest suicide bombings - terrorism
for self determination versus messianic terrorism - are comparable
to Al Quaeda is pretty serious offense to common sense,"
said Weston.
Bush - rather than advocate for "preemptive
war" against an immediate threat - developed a doctrine
of "preventive war" for a country supposedly considered
a long term term threat. The concept of "preventive war"
is illegal under Section 51, according to Weston.
The second article justifying water under
the U.N. Charter is Article 39, that provides the three circumstances
for the use of force: (1) a threat to peace, (2) a breach of
peace and (3) an act of aggression.
"Bush kept insisting on Article
39, that there would be serious consequences against Iraq if
they didn't comply with the Security Council's wishes, but most
of the Council didn't buy into it," said Weston.
U.N. Resolution 1441 didn't authorize
the immediate use of force, only the inspections for WMD in Iraq.
"The war wasn't authorized by Article 39, so it was an act
of aggression by Bush and Blair," said Weston.
Under the standards of the Nuremberg
trials, the war in Iraq is considered a crime against peace.
"If the regime engages in war crimes, the architects of
the war are considered war criminals. Therefore Bush and his
entourage are war criminals under international law," concluded
Weston.
Another justification for the war by
Bush and Blair was the previous authorization of force by the
U.N to go to war over Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. However, Resolution
687 brought the Iraq war to an end and previous agreements were
terminated. "I can't see how the UN Charter could possibly
justify what Bush and Blair did in Iraq this year," added
Weston.
There is one other possible argument
- that the Iraq intervention was required as a humanitarian intervention
under international law when there is an act of genocide that
requires to state or group of states to intervene swiftly enough
to stop the slaughter of innocent people. "It was on this
basis that I defended Clinton on the intervention in Kosovo,"
he said (an intervention that many in the audience, including
myself, adamantly opposed).
"However, it was a very bad precedent
that Bush didn't even go to the Security Council asking for humanitarian
intervention," said Weston. "It is transparently laughable
that the U.S. intervened to bring human rights to Iraq.
The new national security strategy, as
outlined in the Project for a New American Century, calls for
unchallenged U.S. military power throughout the world to engage
in preemptive strikes against potential opponents and to avoid
even going to the U.N. for authorization. Calling themselves
the "Straussians," they argue for a interpretation
of Ancient Rome that it is OK for imperial powers to vanquish
those who didn't live up to their standards of "civilization."
But besides imperial hegemony and control
of world resources, there is a second reason for U.S. intervention,
a "burning interest" by the U.S. military and the weapons
manufacturers to test out new weapons in the field, said Weston.
"International law was fundamentally violated," concluded
Weston. "There were alternatives. First, Saddam could have
been contained. Second, there was always the possibility of the
multi-lateral use of force with legitimacy - and allow 3 more
months of inspections."
By spending taxpayers' money on military
adventures, the Bush administration has taken money that could
have been better spent for feeding people, building schools and
economic and social development in the U.S. and throughout the
world.
"The law has to be applied to everyone
equally," Weston concluded. "However we have a bankrupt
political process where the Democrats serve as door mats for
the Bush administration. The media has completely forgotten their
Fourth Estate role. The American people have allowed Bush to
seduce us into a self absorbed fear after 9-11 - and a lot of
the American people have bought into it."
Is there any room for optimism? Weston
points to February 15, an extraordinary event in U.S and world
history, when unprecedented millions of people joined in a world
wide movement against intervention in Iraq, protesting not just
war, but affirming "the right to peace." Indeed, this
is the "Second Super Power" that has emerged to challenge
the national security state that kills people abroad while destroying
our rights here at home.
"We need to engage in the same vigor
and sense of purpose that the Republican Party engages in,"
he said. "This year's worldwide protests sent us a tiny
ripple of hope that we need to build on to sweep down the walls
of oppression."
Daniel Bacher
can be reached at: danielbacher@hotmail.com
Today's
Features
CounterPunch
Wire
WMD: Who Said What When
Jason
Leopold
Despite Thin Intelligence Reports,
US Plans Overthrow of Iran Regime
Ron
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Popular Uprising, Inc.
Michelle
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Bush's Nuclear Policy: Do As I Say, Not As I Do
Yves Engler
The Economics of Health Care in
America: Pay More to Die Sooner
Kimberly
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Vouchers for Jesus
Harry
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Stakeknife: Britain's Army Spy at
the Top of the IRA
Stew
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Cops of the World
Steve Perry
Greens 04: In or Out?
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