Many fair-minded people otherwise weary of war in the Middle East are appalled by the brutality of IS and feel compelled to “do something” to stop them. And we should do something. But not this. We’ll come to regret this war, potentially long before it’s had three years to run its course. Here’s why. This war is illegal. So, first thing’s first: This war is unmistakably illegal. Under international law—at least as defined by the UN Charter, to which the United States is a founding signatory—one country can only legally launch attacks inside another under one of three conditions: if the intervention is authorized by the UN Security Council; if it’s a cut-and-dry case of self-defense; or if assistance is requested by the other country’s government. It’s true that in Iraq at least, the government requested U.S. assistance in stemming the spread of IS—an intervention promoted in Washington as part of an effort to prevent the genocide of Iraqi religious minorities like the Yazidis (remember them?). Yet the United States has continued launching strikes on IS positions in Iraq long after the crisis on Mt. Sinjar was putatively resolved. But in Syria, not a single one of these conditions applies.
Posted on: Fri, 03 Oct 2014 01:59:56 +0000
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