One minor little fact tends to get ignored in all the rhetoric about the advisability of preemptively attacking Iran: Iran is a sovereign nation, and it pretty much has the right to do what it wants, short of committing aggression against another sovereign nation, no matter what other nations may say or think. Its leaders can say what they want, structure their government they way they want, and pursue the armaments policies that they want, and the United States doesn't have the right to use military force to do anything to stop them, unless Iran attacks first.
Yes, Iran is a nuclear nonproliferation treaty signatory, but that reserves for Iran (or any other signatory not already possessing nuclear weapons) the right to develop nuclear power for peaceful purposes. Any signatory also has the right to withdraw from the treaty upon three month's notice. Nothing in the treaty gives any nation the right to launch a preemptive attack to enforce treaty compliance.
In short, if Iran wants to build nuclear weapons, the United States has no legal right to use military force to stop it. The U.S., like every other member of the United Nations, has agreed, and is bound by international law to "refrain ... from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state," except in self-defense against an actual armed attack. Period.
In any case, there's no clear evidence Iran is developing nuclear weapons, according to sources both inside and outside of the U.S. government. Hyperbole aside, there would be no justification for a preemptive strike even if it was legal and sensible. Rather like Saddam Hussein's nukes, only with an "n" rather than a "q" at the end of the name.
So all this talk about whether the U.S. should use force to prevent the Iranians from developing nuclear weapons is beside the point. America has no legal right to do so, and if nevertheless it does attack, the U.S. would be an aggressor state, in total violation of international law.
Aggressor state. That's not a descriptive term any American would want to have applied to their beloved country.
Note: this originally posted on ketches, yaks & hawks 5 November 2007
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5 comments:
Um. We already illegally, preemptively attacked Iraq, didn’t we? So we’re already an aggressor nation. And we don’t care if everyone hates us, and we don’t care how much anything costs, and we don’t learn from our mistakes, either. So why would we hesitate to do it again?
Note: originally submitted by AK on 5 November 2007
You’ve got a point. Sigh.
Worse, it’s one with which the administration, the majority of our presidential candidates, and the majority of Congress agree.
But it’s your and my country, too. And our country neither tortures, nor launches wars of aggression.
Wouldn’t it be nice to take our country back, somehow?
Note: originally submitted by Sanderling 6 November 2007
Yes. Want to march again?
Note: Originally submitted by AK 6 November 2007
And again. And again. And again.
The problem is that this administration couldn’t care less what the people think. Nor, frankly, do key members of Congress. (Did I hear somebody mention those esteemed liberals, Senators Feinstein and Schumer?)
Honestly, I don’t know how to take back this country. The reactionaries and their ilk dominate the communications media, the economy and the political process. The Internet is currently reasonably open to public content and communication, but there is a strong tendency within the ‘Net towards corporate dominance, and that is very worrisome.
Perhaps even worse, the polity is dominated by forces terribly resistant to change, yet the global community is going to have to implement radical changes or face catastrophic systemic failure. (Oopsie, that’s right; global warming is a myth which can be effectively addressed by voluntary measures. I forgot. Me bad.)
I’m not optimistic.
But there is a bright side; you can head for a locale on the Canadian border, and the Lad can still have his delightfully warm weather ….
Note: originally submitted by Sanderling 7 November 2007
Except we’ll be underwater, and the polar bears will eat us. They’re very hungry, I hear. But it will be fun while it lasts.
Note: originally submitted by AK 7 November 2007
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