The Iraq War And International Law

The decision by the US and UK governments to use military force against Iraq in 2003 and the subsequent occupation and administration of that State, has brought into sharp focus fundamental fault lines in international law. The decision to invade, the conduct of the war and occupation and the mechanisms used to administer the country all challenge the international legal community placing it at a crossroads. When can the use of force be justified? What are the limits of military operations? What strength does international criminal law possess in the face of such interventions? How effective is the international regime of human rights in these circumstances? What role does domestic law have to play? How the law now responds and develops in the light of these matters will be of fundamental global importance for the 21st century and an issue of considerable political and legal concern. This book explores this legal territory by examining a number of issues fundamental to the future direction of international law in the War's aftermath. Consideration is also given to the impact on UK law. Both practical and academic perspectives are taken in order to scrutinise key questions and consider the possible trajectories that international law might now follow.

This book deals with a number of the most important international legal aspects of the Gulf War of 1980-1988. To date, remarkably little attention has been paid to this war from the international legal perspective. However, the need to do so seems obvious. Many more States than the two belligerents have directly or indirectly become involved as a result, in particular, of the extensive activities of the belligerent parties which were detrimental to the shipping of non-participating States. Furthermore, even if the hostilities have finally come to an end, the international community will still have to cope with the international legal aftermath for a prolonged period of time. After all, the Gulf War of 1980-1988 has placed certain matters, which for a long time seemed to have lost their place of prominence, at the centre of interest for international lawyers, notably the law of neutrality and some areas of the law of international armed conflict, particularly the rules regarding the conduct of war.

“Professor Byers’s book goes to the heart of some of the most bitterly contested recent controversies about the International Rule of Law.” —Chris Patten, Chancellor of Oxford University International law governing the use of military force has been the subject of intense public debate. Under what conditions is it appropriate, or necessary, for a country to use force when diplomacy has failed? Michael Byers, a widely known world expert on international law, weighs these issues in War Law. Byers examines the history of armed conflict and international law through a series of case studies of past conflicts, ranging from the 1837 Caroline Incident to the abuse of detainees by US forces at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. Byers explores the legal controversies that surrounded the 1999 and 2001 interventions in Kosovo and Afghanistan and the 2003 war in Iraq; the development of international humanitarian law from the 1859 Battle of Solferino to the present; and the role of war crimes tribunals and the International Criminal Court. He also considers the unique influence of the United States in the evolution of this extremely controversial area of international law. War Law is neither a textbook nor a treatise, but a fascinating account of a highly controversial topic that is necessary reading for fans of military history and general readers alike. “Should be read, and pondered, by those who are seriously concerned with the legacy we will leave to future generations.” —Noam Chomsky

One million people in the UK alone demonstrated against the 2003 invasion of Iraq. A crucial element of the opposition to the war was the lack of a clear legal basis. This is the first book to analyze the lawfulness of the use of force against Iraq on the basis of formerly classified material made public by the official UK inquiry into the war.

Literature Review from the year 2014 in the subject Law - European and International Law, Intellectual Properties, grade: 17/20, Sciences Po Paris, Dijon, Nancy, Poitier, Menton, Havre, course: The Basics of International Law and issues of International Law and War, language: English, abstract: This short abstract gives an overview of Anthony Carty's "The Iraq Invasion as a recent UK 'Contribution' to International Law", its main ideas and historical and political context such as of how Britain (together with its allies) framed Saddam Hussein as a threat to international peace in order to build up support for its intervention. "The Iraq Invasion as a Recent United Kingdom 'Contribution" to International Law" was published in the European Journal of International Law Vol. 16 no. 1 (2005).

After the Iraq War: The Future of the UN and International Law opens up a powerful and important debate on the future of world order. The military occupation of Iraq by the United States and their allies in Spring 2003 has confronted the United Nations with new and fundamental questions concerning its authority, its prestige, its working methods, its efficiency even the justification of its existence in the future. Besides the United Nations, the book concerns the general international law as such, especially the rules regarding the maintenance of peace and the prohibition of the use of force, which are also the central provisions of the United Nations Charter and the fundamental norms of customary international law. Contemporary general international law is inextricably linked to the fate of the United Nations. The purpose of this volume is to reappraise the findings on the current situation and to give a differentiated picture of the international debate on the future world order, and its direction.

In The Costs of War, Richard Falk brings together some of his recent essays, published and unpublished, examining the impact that the Iraq War has had and will have on international law, human rights, and democracy. A new introduction provides an overview as well as a sense of the current context and reflects on the internal prospects for Iraq and on the logic of an early US military and political withdrawal. Having been revised and updated to take account of the march of events, the essays are organized into the following sections: Part 1 addresses the effects of the American invasion and occupation of Iraq on the current dimensions of world order Part 2 provides a normative inquiry into the larger intentions and consequences of the Iraq War Part 3 considers the more fundamental implications of the Iraq War, especially on our understanding of war as an instrument for the solution of conflict. Falk demonstrates the dysfunctionality of war in relation to either anti-terrorism or the pursuit of a global security system based on military dominance; the historical potential of a realistic Gandhiism as a positive alternative in the setting of global policy in the twenty-first century. The Costs of War will be of interest to students and scholars of political science, media studies, and politics and international relations in general.

What are the politics involved in a government justifying its use of military force abroad? What is the role of international law in that discourse? How and why is international law crucial to this process? And what role does the media have in mediating the interaction of international law and politics? This book provides a fresh and engaging answer to these questions. It introduces different actors to the study of international law in this context, in particular highlighting the importance of institutional actors and the role of the media. It takes a theoretical approach, informed by detailed empirical analysis of key case studies, which challenges the traditional distinction between the spheres of 'the international' and 'the domestic' in global affairs, and the role of international law in the making of public policy. The book specifically critiques the idea of the 'politics of justification', which argues that deploying international legal norms to justify governmental decisions resulting in the use of force necessarily constrains government actions, and leads to fewer instances of military intervention. The politics of justification, on this account, can be seen as a progressive practice, through which international law can become embedded in domestic societies. The book investigates the actors engaged in this justification, and the institutional contexts within which legal justification is articulated, interpreted, and contested. It provides a rich, detailed account of domestic British discourse in the crucial case studies of the Suez Crisis of 1956 and the Iraq War of 2003, making extensive use of archival material, newspaper and television reporting, Parliamentary debates, polling data, personal memoirs, and the declassified material provided to several Public Inquiries, including the Chilcot Inquiry. In light of these sources, it considers the concept of international law as a language and form of communication rather than a set of abstract norms. It argues that a detailed understanding of how that language is deployed, both in private and in public, is essential to gaining a deeper understanding of the role of international law in domestic politics. This book will be illuminating reading for scholars and students the use of force in international law, historians, and media theorists.