The Iraq War (2003 – 11) consisted of two phases with the first being a brief war in March – April 2003 when combined troops of the United States and Great Britain invaded Iraq and defeated Iraqi military. The second phase was a US-led occupation of Iraq. Occupation gradually declined as violence dwindled from 2007.
Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990 but they were defeated in the Persian Gulf War (1990-91). Saddam Hussein retained power as head of the Ba’ath Party. Hussein began to assert open control of the Government in 1979, he become President after former President al-Bakr resigned. Saddam used extensive secret police, internal opposition and cult status thought his Presidency to assert dominance and keep control.
Iraq invaded Iranian oil fields in 1980 but the campaign bogged down in a war of attrition, reaching stalemate in 1988. Following the ceasefire with Iran, the Iraqi military overran Kuwait but rather than bolstering Iraq’s economy, the occupation resulted in a trade embargo.
In 1998 Former US President Bill Clinton ordered the bombing of several Iraqi military installations in Operation Desert Fox. After the bombing Iraq refused to allow inspectors to re-enter the country, and in the following years trade sanctions began to erode as neighbouring countries sought to reopen trade with Iraq. There was a new President in 2002, George W. Bush, he argued that the US was vulnerable following the 9/11 attacks and that Iraq’s alleged possession and manufacture of weapons of mass destruction – an accusation that later proved erroneous – and support of terrorist groups like Al-Qaeda made disarmament of Iraq a priority.
UN Security Council Resolution 1441 passed on the 8th of November 2002, the resolution demanded that Iraq re-admin inspectors and comply with previous Resolutions. French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder believed there was increased Iraqi co-operation and sought to allow them more time to comply with the Resolution, but pressure from the US President and UK Prime Minister Tony Blair saw the issue of an ultimatum. Leaders from France, Germany and Russia objected to the move. In 2003 UN Special Representative to Iraq, Sérgio Vieria de Mello was killed by a suicide bomber, along with 22 members of staff. The UN withdrew all non-essential employees from Iraq.
Saddam Hussein refused to leave Iraq and the US and allied forces launched their attack on the morning of March 20, started by the dropping of precision-guided bombs, control of Baghdad was taken on 9th April, along with Basra. Hussein was eventually captured on 13th of December 2003; he was convicted of crimes against humanity and executed on the 30th of December 2006.
Restoring order as an occupation was an arduous task, exacerbated by guerilla warfare that the Bush administration kindly termed “sectarian violence”. The economy was in shambles and recovered very slowly, their debt vastly exceeded the annual GDP and oil production was greatly impeded. Sectarian violence was indeed provoked by Al-Qaeda by a wave of suicide bombings striking holy sites in Baghdad and Karbala.
Public opinion in Europe and the Middle East was overwhelmingly against the War, many in the Middle East viewed it as anti-Arab and anti-Islamic imperialism. The reaction in the US was mixed, there were protests in American cities with polls showing considerable support. As the violence continued criticism of the Bush administration mounted. The Bipartisan Commission reported in July 2004 found no evidence of a “collaborative operational relationship” between the Ba’athist Government and Al-Qaeda. Former top US Weapons Inspector David Kay admitted to Congress “we were almost all wrong” with a commission concluding that “not one bit” of prewar intelligence panned out. UN inspections in 1990s uncovered a variety of proscribed weapons and prohibited technology.
Towards the end of the war evidence of prisoner abuse inside the Abu Ghraib prison became public, resulting in the conviction of seven soldiers for the torture and humiliation of detainees. Some of those convicted complained that senior officers and officials were spared.
The failure to find any weapons of mass destruction became a debating point and led to a dwindling number of supporters for the War. The Hutton Inquiry in the UK cleared the Blair Government of accusations of having “sexed-up” intelligence, but the Butler Review was critical of the role of British Intelligence and the unreliable information that was used as a pretext for intervention.
In November 2008 the Iraqi Parliament approved a US – Iraqi agreement thar set a timetable for the final withdrawal of US forces, the last combat brigade withdrew from Iraq on the 18th of August 2010. 39,000 troops remained in Iraq citing political unrest as cause. President Obama announced the removal of these last troops which occurred on the 18th of December 2011.
International Law.
In 2004 the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan stated “I have indicated that this is not in accordance with the UN Charter. From our point of view and the UN Charter point of view, it was illegal”. UK and US officials have argued that UN Security Council resolutions (660, 678) authorised the invasion. However, the UK and the US failed to obtain an additional Security Council resolution that would have been necessary to specifically authorise the invasion.
It is the United Nations that has the ability to rule on the legality of the war, as outlined in Article 39 of the UN Charter. No UN Member state gas asked the UN to rule on the legality of the war which leaves it to some conjecture. Both the UK and the US have a veto power so any action is unlikely, but the UN General Assembly may ask the International Court of Justice to give either an ‘advisory opinion’ or ‘judgement’ on the legality of the war.
The UN Charter is the foundation of modern international law, a treaty ratified by the UK, US, and coalition allies in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. These nations are therefore bound by its terms. Article 2(4) bans the use of force by states except when carefully circumscribed conditions are met. The rule was enshrined in the Charter in 1945 to prevent states from using force as they felt so inclined.
In the absence of an armed attack against the UK, US or coalition members, any use of force, or legal threat of force, had to be supported by Resolution. The US Government argued that an armed attack did occur in form of an assassination attempt on former US President George H. W. Bush and the firing on aircraft enforcing the no-fly zones over Northern and Southern Iraq.
The UK and US Governments stated that they were acting as agents for Kuwait’s defence. This foundation has been found untenable by the International Commission of Jurists, National Lawyers’ Guild, amongst others. These groups are of the view that the invasion was not supported by UN resolution and was therefore illegal
Resolution 1441 was similarly used to justify the war, the resolution required Iraq to “provide UNMOVIC and the IAEA immediate, unimpeded, unconditional, and unrestricted access to any and all, including underground, areas, facilities, buildings, equipment, records, and means of transport which they wish to inspect”. US Ambassador to the UN, John Negroponte, assured there were no hidden triggers and that if there were breaches, they would return to the council for discussion as required in Paragraph 12. He added that “the Resolution does not constrain any Member State from acting to defend itself … to protect world peace and security”. Attorney General for England and Wales Lord Goldsmith agreed that the use of force against Iraq was justified by Resolution 1441 in combination of 678 and 687.
Allegedly, US Secretary of State Powell advised Syrian Officials that there is ‘nothing in the resolution to allow it to be used as a pretext to launch on Iraq’ in effort to secure Syria’s favour of the Resolution. The Report to the UN Security Council was structured around intelligence from the CIA and MI6 that has been to be false
It would seem then that whether you decide the war to be legal or otherwise depends on your interpretation of international law and politics.
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