[PAA-Discuss] Cohn includes peaceful measures as alternative

Tue Mar 22 19:24:25 EDT 2011

I don't support any war, anywhere, any time. Even with the support of
Congress, creating a no-fly-zone is an act of unprovoked war and a war
crime. I don't support war criminals. Lee

  _____  

From: Ron and Kris Graham [mailto:graham2639 at mindspring.com] 
Sent: Tuesday, March 22, 2011 6:14 PM
To: 'Lee Loe'; 'PAA'
Subject: RE: [PAA-Discuss] Cohn includes peaceful measures as alternative

This bombing of Libya with the authorization of Obama and NOT Congress and
without provocation constitutes a war crime. What more do you need, Lee? Do
you still support a war criminal?

Kris

  _____  

From: Lee Loe [mailto:leeloe at igc.org] 
Sent: Tuesday, March 22, 2011 1:19 PM
To: 'Shari Loe'
Subject: [PAA-Discuss] Cohn includes peaceful measures as alternative

Marjorie Cohn is great. (Will be my sec'y of defense, state, peace? when I
am president (o: ) Very comprehensive discussion. Lee/Mom/Grandma

Published on Tuesday, March 22, 2011 by  <http://www.commondreams.org/>
CommonDreams.org 

Stop Bombing Libya

by  <http://www.commondreams.org/marjorie-cohn> Marjorie Cohn 

Since Saturday night, the United States, France, and Britain have been
bombing Libya with cruise missiles, B-2 stealth bombers, F-16 and F-15
fighter jets, and Harrier attack jets. There is no reliable estimate of the
number of civilians killed. The U.S. has taken the lead in the punishing
bombing campaign to carry out United Nations Security Council Resolution
1973.

The resolution authorizes UN Member States "to take all necessary measures .
. . to protect civilians and civilian populated areas under threat of attack
in the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, including Benghazi, while excluding a foreign
occupation force of any form on any part of Libyan territory." The military
action taken exceeds the bounds of the "all necessary measures"
authorization.

"All necessary measures" should first have been peaceful measures to settle
the conflict. But peaceful means were not exhausted before Obama began
bombing Libya. A high level international team - consisting of
representatives from the Arab League, the Organization of African Unity, and
the UN Secretary General - should have been dispatched to Tripoli to attempt
to negotiate a real cease-fire, and set up a mechanism for elections and for
protecting civilians.

There is no doubt that Muammar Qaddafi has been brutally repressing Libyans
in order to maintain his power. But the purpose of the United Nations is to
maintain international peace and security. The burgeoning conflict in Libya
is a civil war, which arguably does not constitute a threat to international
peace and security.

The UN Charter commands that all Members settle their international disputes
by peaceful means, to maintain international peace, security, and justice.
Members must also refrain from the threat or use of force against the
territorial integrity or political independence of any state or in any
manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations.

Only when a State acts in self-defense, in response to an armed attack by
one country against another, can it militarily attack another State under
the UN Charter. The need for self-defense must be overwhelming, leaving no
choice of means, and no moment for deliberation. Libya has not attacked
another country. The United States, France and Britain are not acting in
self-defense. Humanitarian concerns do not constitute self-defense.

The UN Charter does not permit the use of military force for humanitarian
interventions. But the UN General Assembly embraced a norm of
"Responsibility to Protect" in the Outcome Document of the 2005 World
Summit. Paragraph 138 of that document says each individual State has the
responsibility to protect its populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic
cleansing, and crimes against humanity. Paragraph 139 adds that the
international community, through the United Nations, also has "the
responsibility to use appropriate diplomatic, humanitarian and other
peaceful means, in accordance with Chapters VI and VIII of the Charter, to
help protect populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and
crimes against humanity."

Chapter VI of the Charter requires parties to a dispute likely to endanger
the maintenance of international peace and security to "first of all, seek a
solution by negotiation, enquiry, mediation, conciliation, arbitration,
judicial settlement, resort to regional agencies or arrangements, or other
peaceful means of their own choice." Chapter VIII governs "regional
arrangements," such as NATO, the Arab League, and the Organization of
African Unity. The chapter specifies that regional arrangements "shall make
every effort to achieve pacific settlement of local disputes through such
regional arrangements . . ."

It is only when peaceful means have been tried and proved inadequate that
the Security Council can authorize action under Chapter VII of the Charter.
That action includes boycotts, embargoes, severance of diplomatic relations,
and even blockades or operations by air, sea or land.

The "responsibility to protect" norm grew out of frustration with the
failure to take action to prevent the genocide in Rwanda, where a few
hundred troops could have saved myriad lives. But the norm was not
implemented to stop Israel from bombing Gaza in late 2008 and early 2009,
which resulted in a loss of 1,400 Palestinians, mostly civilians. Nor is it
being used to stop the killing of civilians by the United States in
Afghanistan and Pakistan.

There is also hypocrisy inherent in the U.S. bombing of Libya to enforce
international law. The Obama administration has thumbed its nose at its
international obligations by refusing to investigate officials of the Bush
administration for war crimes for its torture regime. Both the Convention
Against Torture and the Geneva Conventions compel Member States to bring
people to justice who violate their commands.

The United States is ostensibly bombing Libya for humanitarian reasons. But
Obama refuses to condemn the repression and government killings of
protestors in Bahrain using U.S.-made tanks and weaponry because that is
where the U.S. Fifth Fleet is stationed. And Yemen, a close U.S. ally, kills
and wounds protestors while Obama watches silently.

Regime change is not authorized by the resolution. Yet U.S. bombers targeted
the Qaddafi compound and Obama said at a news conference in Santiago that it
is "U.S. policy that Qaddafi needs to go." The resolution specifically
forbids a "foreign occupation force." But it is unlikely that the United
States, France and Britain will bomb Libya and leave. Don't be surprised to
hear there are Western forces on the ground in Libya to "train" or "assist"
the rebels there.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates pegged it when he said that a "no-fly zone"
over Libya would be an "act of war." Although the Arab League reportedly
favored a no-fly zone, Amr Moussa, Secretary General of the Arab League,
said that "what is happening in Libya differs from the aim of imposing a
no-fly zone." He added, "What we want is the protection of civilians and not
the shelling of more civilians." He plans to call a new meeting of the
league to reconsider its support for a no-fly zone.

The military action in Libya sets a dangerous precedent of attacking
countries where the leadership does not favor the pro-U.S. or pro-European
Union countries. What will prevent the United States from stage-managing
some protests, magnifying them in the corporate media as mass actions, and
then bombing or attacking Venezuela, Cuba, Iran, or North Korea? During the
Bush administration, Washington leveled baseless allegations to justify an
illegal invasion of Iraq.

Moreover, Obama took military action without consulting Congress, the only
body with the Constitutional power to declare war. It is not clear what our
mission is there or when it will end. Congress - and indeed, the American
people - should debate what we are doing in Libya. We must not support a
third expensive and illegal war. There is a crying need for that money right
here at home. And we should refuse to be complicit in the killing of more
civilians in a conflict in which we don't belong.

 <http://www.commondreams.org/marjorie-cohn> Marjorie Cohn

Marjorie Cohn, a professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law and past
President of the National Lawyers Guild, is the deputy secretary general for
external communications of the International Association of Democratic
Lawyers, and the U.S. representative to the executive committee of the
American Association of Jurists..  She is the author of
<https://www.amazon.com/dp/0977825337?tag=commondreams-20&camp=0&creative=0&
linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=0977825337&adid=181KV0M5EQZRKYZJCEXK&> Cowboy
Republic: Six Ways the Bush Gang Has Defied the Law and co-author of
<https://www.amazon.com/dp/0981576923?tag=commondreams-20&camp=0&creative=0&
linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=0981576923&adid=0PD6RVM68MJWK4SSM0CX&> Rules of
Disengagement: The Politics and Honor of Military Dissent (with Kathleen
Gilberd).  Her anthology,
<http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0814717322?ie=UTF8&tag=commondreams-20&lin
kCode=xm2&camp=1789&creativeASIN=0814717322> The United States and Torture:
Interrogation, Incarceration and Abuse, is now available. Her articles are
archived at  <http://www.marjoriecohn.com/> www.marjoriecohn.com

 <http://www.commondreams.org/marjorie-cohn> more Marjorie Cohn 

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