205 Law Professors, Denounce Iraq War Plans

205 Law Professors, Denounce Iraq War Plans
by Law Professors For the Rule of Law 8:25pm Mon Oct 7 '02


Press Release


Source: Law Professors For the Rule of Law

205 Law Professors, Including 15 Professors of International Law, Denounce Iraq War Plans as Violation of International Law and Threat to Safety Of American People

Monday October 7, 4:35 pm ET

STANFORD, Calif., Oct. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- More than 200 law professors from 73 American law schools, including 15 professors of international law, have sent a statement to the Senate leadership and Foreign Relations Committee, charging that the Bush administration's plans to go to war against Iraq without UN Security Council authorization violates U.S. treaty obligations and international law, according to Law Professors For the Rule of Law. "Every nation that has ever committed aggression against another claimed to be 'defending' itself," the law professors warn, pointing to the dangerous precedent of allowing countries to unilaterally attack others who have not actually attacked them. "The United States helped establish the United Nations precisely in order to impose the rule of law on such claims, to make it unlawful for nations to strike against others unless they were themselves under armed attack. The United States is not under armed attack by Iraq."
"Lawless international violence only breeds more killing of innocent people. Massive civilian deaths can only spawn new generations of embittered peoples, new hate-filled leaders, new enraged individuals, determined to answer violence with violence."

"The international rule of law is not a soft luxury to be discarded whenever leaders find it convenient or popular to resort to savage violence. The international rule of law is a bulwark against the horrors of warfare that we Americans have so recently felt first-hand."

The Statement points out that under the Constitution, treaties are part of the "supreme law of the land," that the UN Charter is a treaty ratified by the United States, and that it bars warfare without the approval of the UN Security Council. "President Bush swore to uphold and defend the Constitution. Yet he advocates a right to ignore our treaty obligations and to visit the scourge of war upon Iraq, with or without the approval of the United Nations."

"The dangerous path America is treading will only lead to more suffering by Americans, as well as by others," the professors' statement warns. "The American people are not made safer by the unilateral use of force. We are further endangered. Lawless violence generates recruits for terrorism."

The complete statement (attached) is also at http://www.the-rule-of-law.com/IraqStatement ; see http://www.the-rule-of-law.com/iraqsigners.html for list of law teachers who have signed.

Law Professors for the Rule of Law (http://www.the-rule-of-law.com) is an unincorporated association of teachers of law in American law schools, dedicated to upholding and promoting the rule of law in American society and in public affairs.

FULL STATEMENT:

205 Law Professors Including 15 Professors of International Law From 73 American Law Schools Say:

A US War Against Iraq Will Violate US and International Law and Set a Dangerous Precedent For Violence That Will Endanger the American People
President Bush maintains that Iraq's "decade of defiance" of United Nations resolutions justifies a war against Iraq. But the President ignores the fact that a US war, unleashed without the approval of the UN Security Council, against a country that has not attacked the United States, would itself be an unlawful act, in defiance of America's treaty obligations, and a violation of US and international law.

Our Constitution provides that treaties signed by the President and ratified by the Senate are part of the "supreme Law of the Land." The United Nations Charter, which our nation wrote in large part, and signed and ratified as a treaty in 1945, provides that -- except in response to an armed attack -- nations may neither threaten nor engage in warfare without the authorization of the UN Security Council. President Bush swore to uphold and defend the Constitution. Yet he advocates a right to ignore our treaty obligations and to visit the scourge of war upon Iraq, with or without the approval of the United Nations.

The dangerous path America is treading will only lead to more suffering by Americans, as well as by others. The international rule of law is not a soft luxury to be discarded whenever leaders find it convenient or popular to resort to savage violence. The international rule of law is a bulwark against the horrors of warfare that we Americans have so recently felt first-hand.

-- Every nation that has ever committed aggression against another claimed to be "defending" itself. The United States helped establish the United Nations precisely in order to impose the rule of law on such claims, to make it unlawful for nations to strike against others unless they were themselves under armed attack. The United States is not under armed attack by Iraq. -- Lawless international violence only breeds more killing of innocent people. The massive civilian deaths, the scarred and maimed children, the ruined and starving peoples, whose suffering is inseparable from warfare, can only spawn new generations of embittered peoples, new hate-filled leaders, new enraged individuals, determined to answer violence with violence. -- The American people are not made safer by the unilateral use of force, in violation of the "supreme Law of the Land" and the United Nation's Charter. We are further endangered. Lawless violence generates recruits for terrorism.
We, teachers of law at American law schools, protest the Bush administration's illegal plan to conduct a war against Iraq. We call upon Congress to step back from the brink of war and to allow the United Nations to resolve the crisis peacefully, patiently, and lawfully.

For list of signers, see http://www.the-rule-of-law.com/iraqsigners.html