Was the war in Iraq legal?
Did the US had enough evidence to declare war and cause so much death and destruction?
Curiosity, but how can any war be legal (or illegal)? Such terminology implies agreed upon laws between the two parties involved. As seperate nations, America and Iraq didn't have any laws that would allow or disallow action.
If one turns to the U.N. as a source of laws, then the invasion was not only legal but late in coming. Back in the early 90's Iraq violated anti-genocide laws. The UN did nothing. Over the next decade Iraq violated nearly 30 different UN resolutions, but the UN did nothing. Prior to invassion the UN passed yet more resolutions demanding that Iraq actually co-opperate or else they would be forced to (and yes, even France voted for those).
No. But somehow we just keep getting away with crap.
Yes congress authorized it twice
No it was not. the USA did not respect the french VETO in the security council. The VETO was supposed to prohibit any kind of aggressions on Iraq. but USA is the strongest country in the world. they have the right to defy INTERNATIONAL LAW !! unfortunately it's the law of the Jungle... the strongest decides everything
No it was not legal.
The fact that some evidence is just kept undisclosed to us, the public, couldve been a possibility. Saddam Hussein was pretty much a maniac, and well who knows what the government is 'not telling us'...so if it was legal or not, no one will ever know....only them....
No.The war was and is quite clearly illegal.
Yes. The action was duly authorized by Congress. Also, numerous UN resolutions following the 1st Gulf War, placed conditions on Saddam Hussein, which if violated carried the threat of yet more force. Saddam busted the deal, so he had to face the wheel. The fact that the rest of Iraq had to suffer is very unfortunate, but the responsibility for all the death and destruction belongs to Saddam, Zarqawi, and others- not the US.
Answers:
Our government, though misguided, was justified in thier invasion of Iraq and the overthrowing of Saddam Hussein. Saddam was an evil dictator who tortured his own people. He has even went so far as to use chemical weapons against the people of his own country. I have never seen such a case of genocide since Hitler. So, yes, I believe that the U.S. did the right thing.
However, the U.S. didn't plan it out as well as they should have. For example, we had no idea that the reconstruction of Iraqi goverment, military and other civil services would take this long or that we would face such strong opposition. Contrary to what you might read or see on TV, most Iraqis are happy that the U.S. came into thier country. But we were NOT prepared for what we have encountered.
Yes, it was illegal, it was a 'preemptive' war.
THose are 2 questions, if it was legal is tough. The congress gave bush the authority to declare war if necessary. The information that convinced them to do this was false. Imagine a friend tells me I need money to get my car from the tow-truck. I tell him to take my TV and sell it. Then I find out that he lied and my car is down the street. Can I take him to court? Yes. Can I prove he KNEW my car was safe? Well, that's where the lawyers come in.
So I would say it is an illegal war, but it'll be hard to prove.
I don't think it was legal for you or us, but now that we are there we are obligated to help sort out the mess that has been created, and probably won't leave until that is done.
There are a number of opinions as this is not a clear point of law due to the complexity of the issues.
The site below, while being in the 'no' camp, does have some good food for thought.
Read widely and on both sides before making up your opinion.
