Quote:
Originally posted by kenny
There is no international law or american law preventing the US from striking Iraq tommorrow. The US is trying to gain world support to do so. The US is trying to build the case in front of the UN. I suppose if any of the situations you stated did the same it would be just.
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You are wrong.
Preemptive Strikes and International law - A preemptive strike would violate Articles 2 & 51 of the United Nations Charter.
"The Bush administration?s apparent resolve to wage war against Iraq, tempered for the moment by conservative critics...disregards the prohibitions on the use of force that are set forth in the UN Charter and
accepted as binding rules of international law." Or so says Richard Falk, Professor Emeritus of International Law and Policy at Princeton University
Article 2
The Organization and its Members, in pursuit of the Purposes stated in Article 1, shall act in accordance with the following Principles.
1. The Organization is based on the principle of the sovereign equality of all its Members.
2. All Members, in order to ensure to all of them the rights and benefits resulting from membership, shall fulfill in good faith the obligations assumed by them in accordance with the present Charter.
3. All Members shall settle their international disputes by peaceful means in such a manner that international peace and security, and justice, are not endangered.
4. All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations.
5. All Members shall give the United Nations every assistance in any action it takes in accordance with the present Charter, and shall refrain from giving assistance to any state against which the United Nations is taking preventive or enforcement action.
6. The Organization shall ensure that states which are not Members of the United Nations act in accordance with these Principles so far as may be necessary for the maintenance of international peace and security.
7. Nothing contained in the present Charter shall authorize the United Nations to intervene in matters which are essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of any state or shall require the Members to submit such matters to settlement under the present Charter; but this principle shall not prejudice the application of enforcement measures under Chapter VII.
Article 51
Nothing in the present Charter shall impair the inherent right of individual or collective self-defense 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. Measures taken by Members in the exercise of this right of self-defense shall be immediately reported to the Security Council and shall not in any way affect the authority and responsibility of the Security Council under the present Charter to take at any time such action as it deems necessary in order to maintain or restore international peace and security.
This is going to create a horrible mess between countries where they could be tempted to act like the United States. And trust me, there are a lot.