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THE ATTITUDE OF THE UNITED STATES TOWARD INTERNATIONAL LAW
Afghanistan without authorization from the Security Council. Bush later informed
the United Nations Secretary General that the United States had invoked its right
of self-defense under Article 51 of the Charter.
93
Bush captured Taliban fighters and
suspected terrorists and detained them indefinitely without charge or trial. Some of
these detainees were outsourced to third countries under a policy of extraordinary
rendition, where they were tortured in ghost prisons. Many detainees were also flown
to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where some are still being held without charge or trial.
Bush refused to recognize the rights of these detainees under the human rights norms
or international humanitarian law.
94
In 2003 President Bush invaded Iraq without authorization from the Security
Council.
95
This was a clear case of aggression, as the invasion was unprovoked. The
Bush administration decided to act unilaterally after it failed to secure the necessary
votes in the Security Council to authorize the use of force against Iraq. Many states
were skeptical of the U.S.’s true intentions. Iraq was cooperating with United
Nations inspectors, and there was every indication that Saddam Hussein did not
have the weapons Bush proclaimed him to possess. Bush justified the U.S. invasion
of Iraq under Security Council Resolution 1441 (2003), and previous Security
Council resolutions. However, Resolution 1441 did not explicitly authoriz military
measures against Iraq but simply warned Iraq of “serious consequences” if Iraq failed
to implement all Security Council resolutions.
96
Bush’s pretext for invading Iraq
was based on false intelligence that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, and the
fear these weapons may fall in the hands of terrorists. That argument was flawed and
could not be supported by the evidence. Bush subsequently sought Security Council
authorization to occupy Iraq. However, Resolution 1483 (2003) did not legitimize the
United States’ invasion of Iraq
post facto.
The resolution recognized the U.S. and the
U.K. as occupying powers under a unified command and called on them to comply
with their obligations under the Fourth Geneva Conventions of 1949.
97
The U.S. invasion of Iraq violated both the United Nations Charter and the
Geneva Conventions. The conduct of the war was inconsistent with international
human rights norms and international humanitarian law. Both the occupation of
Iraq and the detention of large numbers of Iraqis who opposed the war were illegal
under Geneva Convention IV. The decrees adopted by the Coalition Provisional
Administration (CPA) did not comply with various provisions of the Geneva
Conventions. United States forces killed thousands of innocent civilians during
93
Letter from Ambassador John Negroponte, Permanent Representative of the USA to the UN, to the
President of the Security Council, S/2001/946, October 7, 2001.
94
William A. Fletcher,
International Human Rights and the Role of the United States,
104 Nw.U.L.Rev.
293, 306 (2010).
95
Bush Address to the Nation on the Commencement of War with Iraq, at
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2003/mar/20/iraq.georgebush.
96
S.C. Res. 1441 (2003).
97
S.C. Res. 1483 (2003), Preamble;
See
David Scheffer,
The Security Council and International Law on
Military Occupations,
p. 599
,
in Lowe,
et al.
, eds., The United Nations Security Council and War (2010).