I was wondering if a possible US attack on Iraq might be in violation of international law. One page I found was a speech by Hans C. von Sponeck, UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq 1998-2000. He said:
"A unilateral military strike by the US against Iraq would in any case be a grave violation of international law".
And then there is a declaration of 315 American law professors stating that an attack would be illegal.
German famous international law scholar Prof. Frowein says that it is
for the most powerful nation on earth to try to circumvent or ignore international law.
And Prof. Bothe sees the danger that the prohibition of violence in international law will be history soon.
I am not a specialist for international law. Nor do I have to be. This is a no-brainer. There is no possible way this could be legal. If America can legally attack Iraq under present circumstances, no country on the planet would be safe from American "pre-emptive strikes".
However, there is the question of procedure. If the German government unilaterally ignored international treaties, they would find themselves very quickly as a defendant before the Federal Constitutional Court. Also, it is a crime under Article 80 of the German Criminal law to prepare a war of aggression (Angriffskrieg).
In contrast, if the American government decides not to worry about minor legal details like the UN Charter, who could sue them and where? If there is no way to bring this question to court, the question if the attack is legal or not seems to be moot.
The 315 American law professors declaring an attack to be illegal did not mention any way to actually enforce their view. Probably there is none under American law and the American government can go ahead merrily violating international treaties without having to face any consequence whatsoever for doing so.
Except, of course, the moral ones. It does not look good in the eyes of the world to kick international law squarely in the face from a position of military strength.
Posted by Karl-Friedrich Lenz at January 26, 2003 07:42 PM | TrackBackI'm working on a Ph.D. paper regarding the declaration of war and international law, attempting to identify whether or not the U.S.' unilateral actions are congruent. Do you have specifics, regarding which aspects of international law the U.S. is in breach?
Thanks.
Posted by: Kerrie on March 27, 2003 08:32 AMIf you are interested in everything I have written here on that question, please look at the category archive.
I would also recommend reading Paper Chase, but if you are doing any serious research on the question, you probably already know that.
My position is, as stated in the post above, that the war is not only illegal but obviously so.
Posted by: Karl-Friedrich Lenz on March 27, 2003 06:05 PM