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CRANFIELD UNIVERSITY DAREN BOWYER JUST WAR DOCTRINE

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Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait on 2 August 1990 was the first test of the international order<br />

beginning to emerge from the apparent, if then not yet certain, end of the Cold War.<br />

The speed and near unanimity of the response, firmly based on the principles and<br />

practices of international law and the framework of the UN Charter was good cause for<br />

optimism for proponents of the legalist paradigm. On the very day of the invasion the<br />

Iraqi action was condemned in UNSCR 660, passed by 14 votes to nil with only Yemen<br />

abstaining. There followed a series of resolutions, beginning with UNSCR 661 on 6<br />

Aug – which specifically mentioned Chapter VII of the Charter – imposing various<br />

economic sanctions and trade embargoes. United States and United Kingdom military<br />

deployments to protect shipping in the Gulf and to reassure Saudi Arabia commenced<br />

almost immediately and continued throughout the autumn.<br />

Speaking in the House of Commons on 6 Sep 1990, British Prime Minister Margaret<br />

Thatcher said:<br />

If Iraq’s aggression were allowed to succeed, no small state could ever feel safe<br />

again. At the very time when at last we can see the prospect of a world<br />

governed by the rule of law, a world in which the United Nations and the<br />

Security Council can play the role envisaged for them when they were founded,<br />

Iraq’s actions go back to the law of the jungle. 42<br />

In the context of the 2003 war with Iraq it is worth noting that even in 1991, when<br />

consensus for firm, and if necessary military, action was much more widespread,<br />

Thatcher was repeatedly pressed for assurances that no military action would be taken<br />

without further, specific authorisation from the UN Security Council. 43 Nevertheless,<br />

resolve was firm and the significance of the moment was well recognised. Neil<br />

Kinnock, Leader of the Opposition, noted that ‘…there is a feeling that, while no<br />

advantages of any description arise from the action of Saddam Hussein, the co-<br />

operation between powers that were, until a short time ago, deadlocked in cold war<br />

offers a new prospect for international security.’ 44 Former Labour Defence Secretary<br />

and Chancellor of the Exchequer, Dennis Healey, spoke for many when he said:<br />

The House will agree that Saddam Hussein will go down in history for at least<br />

one unique achievement: he has united all parties in the House of Commons, all<br />

permanent members of the Security Council and the overwhelming majority of<br />

members of the United Nations both on the objective of getting him out of<br />

Kuwait and on the best method of doing so – a blockade supported, if necessary,<br />

by appropriate force. 45<br />

77

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