US claims it has right to attack Iran
is not ‘restoration of deterrence,’ it's
return to the Wild West
By Finian Cunningham
January 16, 2020 "Information
Clearing House" -
Donald Trump is not the first US
president to be accused of using
military force illegally. But this White
House seems to be giving Trump greater
executive license to kill – and to start
wars.
This week, Secretary of Defense Mark
Esper in a media interview
claimed the US has the right under
Article II of its Constitution to attack
Iranian territory in response to
offensive action by Iranian-backed
militia in Iraq.
There has been a
reported surge in rocket attacks on
US bases in Iraq following the killing
of General Soleimani and his companion,
the Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi
al-Muhandis.
In Esper’s reasoning, the US would
have the right to launch airstrikes on
Iran. And in Trump’s reasoning, he does
not have to seek authority from
Congress.
Canada-based war crimes lawyer
Christopher Black comments: “Esper's
claim is incorrect because all that
Article II does is make the president
the commander of the armed forces. It
does not give him the right to attack
any nation without the consent of the
Congress nor murder foreigners in
foreign countries, nor violate its
international legal obligations under
the UN Charter and other covenants that
are considered also to be part of US
domestic law.”
Black added: “Further, US claims
of self-defense are also false as
international law does not give
authority to a nation to launch an
attack on another country it is not at
war [with].”
It’s tantamount to a policy of shoot now,
and only later answer questions about it. In
Trump’s case, he’s not even prepared to
answer questions as can be seen from his
defiance in the face of criticism about the
drone-killing of Iranian General Soleimani.
With growing doubts about the initial
justification for the president’s order of
that assassination, Trump has subsequently
lashed out and asserted that even if
Soleimani’s alleged threats were not “imminent,”
he still deserved to be killed by US forces
in Baghdad on January 3.
