Lawyers on the illegality of the war
The Lawyers’ Committee on Nuclear Policy has condemned the war on Iraq as contrary to the UN Charter and international law.
According to Andrew Lichterman, [Western States Legal Foundarion] program director, “Article 51 of the UN Charter recognizes the inherent right of self-defense ‘if an armed attack occurs’. Under Article 51, a state may not decide for itself alone that a threat that justifies war exists, unless actually attacked, or, in the view of some experts, where there is a threat of attack that is immediate and unavoidable, and where there are no alternatives to the use of force. Because Iraq has not attacked any state, nor is there any showing whatever of an imminent attack by Iraq, self-defense cannot justify U.S. war on Iraq.” Mr. Lichterman added, “There is no basis in international law for dramatically expanding the concept of self-defense, as advocated in the Bush administration’s September 2002 ‘National Security Strategy,’ to authorize ‘preemptive’ - really preventive - strikes against states based on potential threats arising from possession or development of chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons and links to terrorism. Such an expansion would destabilize the present system of UN Charter restraints on use of force. Further, there is no publicly disclosed evidence that Iraq is supplying weapons of mass destruction to terrorists. If the Bush administration doctrine is allowed to stand, the next states in line may be Iran and North Korea.”