Illegality of Iraq war (which UK clearly understood) detailed in new memo

[BurtWorm]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/printFriendly/0,,1-524-1648758-524,00.html

The Goal

5. Our objective should be a stable and law-abiding Iraq, within present borders, co-operating with the international community, no longer posing a threat to its neighbours or to international security, and abiding by its international obligations on WMD. It seems unlikely that this could be achieved while the current Iraqi regime remains in power. US military planning unambiguously takes as its objective the removal of Saddam Hussein's regime, followed by elimination if Iraqi WMD. It is however, by no means certain, in the view of UK officials, that one would necessarily follow from the other. Even if regime change is a necessary condition for controlling Iraqi WMD, it is certainly not a sufficient one.

...


Justification

11. US views of international law vary from that of the UK and the international community. Regime change per se is not a proper basis for military action under international law. But regime change could result from action that is otherwise lawful. We would regard the use of force against Iraq, or any other state, as lawful if exercised in the right of individual or collective self-defence, if carried out to avert an overwhelming humanitarian catastrophe, or authorised by the UN Security Council. A detailed consideration of the legal issues, prepared earlier this year, is at Annex A. The legal position would depend on the precise circumstances at the time. Legal bases for an invasion of Iraq are in principle conceivable in both the first two instances but would be difficult to establish because of, for example, the tests of immediacy and proportionality. Further legal advice would be needed on this point.

[LightningFlash]

1. How crazy and unsurprising.

[TahitiNut]

2. There's no question about it.

As I said in this post,

Under international law, waging war for the purpose of regime change is illegal. That is, it is not a legitimate casus belli.

It is well understood that, under widely recognized international law, no nation has an inherent unilateral right to breach the sovereignty of any nation and to relieve people of any nation of their leader or government. -- Dennis Kucinich, December 2004
http://www.globalpolicy.org/intljustice/icc/2004/1209kucinich.htm

As is now clear beyond a reasonable doubt, the Bush/Blair War Conspiracy had, as its strategy in 2002, the falsification of a facade of legitimacy due to the fact that the only real objective (removal of Saddam) did not and does not justify an attack.

It was a deliberate fraud on a global scale. It was a war crime more egregious than Mussolini's invasion and occupation of Ethiopia. It was a war crime more egregious than Hitler's invasion and occupation of Czechoslovakia. It's a crime against humanity.


As Pravda said in February 2003,
"President George Bush of the United States of America is either an idiot, or a liar. His declarations on the Middle East in his speech on Wednesday in Washington spelt a telling story of a man wholly incompetent to be in his position who is either unable to understand the issues at stake or else manipulates the evidence to suit his discourse. In short, he is either an idiot or a liar."
http://english.pravda.ru/usa/2003/02/28/43818.html


On edit: Some may argue that the centuries-old definition of a "just war" (as enshrined in the United Nations Charter!) is outmoded and that oppressive regimes may be a casus belli. This argument is made moot by the very fact that Bush/Blair gave complete credence and affirmation to this definition by the mere fact that they strove to concoct the fraud.

Further,
"... it is necessary to create the conditions in which we could legally support military action."
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-1648758,00.html

That's it in a nutshell. On July 21, 2002, nearly eight months before the illegal invasion of Iraq, the British government baldly states that there was NO legal justification for the invasion and that such justification needed to be created.

create - author, concoct, construct, dream up, fabricate, forge, invent, manufacture, originate

No justification existed. None. No "imminent" threat. Nothing.

It was a fraud ... a war crime ... a crime against humanity!

[Karenina]

3. And lemme tell you what else...

We need to STOP, look and listen cuz Mo' Nature is highly pissed and about to rid herself of us parasites. Y'all KNOW the planet joke...
:silly:

[BurtWorm]

4. I wonder if we'll ever get to see the missing last page.