Use Of Force Essay

In international law, the use of force is an important factor to consider reason being because it can be very controversial. If every country were to use force because they wanted to prove a point or show another country that they are more powerful then every state would use force to get their way. An issue that highlights the use of force is the United States – Iraq war. Through resolutions, articles, customary international law, relations with terrorist groups and humanitarian intervention we will address the question, Was the use of force by the United States, United Kingdom and their allies against Iraq in 2003 legal? In 1991, after the Gulf War, Iraq was forced by the United Nations to get rid of their weapons of mass destruction (WMD), …show more content…
This means that even though the Caroline Doctrine states that anticipatory self-defense is ineffective due the Article 51 because it narrows the focus of self-defense, which makes the United States’ attack against Iraq unlawful. On the other hand, counter-restrictionists like the United States and the United Kingdom believes that in fact the customary right of anticipatory self-defense is in fact covered under the Charter (Pierson, 157). The United States believes that the attack was imminent and therefore the use of force could be used. However, the restrictionists believe that there was no imminent threat and the United States was wrong to use force and attack Iraq (Pierson, 164). The “burden of self-defense… falls largely on each individual state with anticipatory self-defense as an indispensable tool for national survival (Pierson, 170).” The United States and the United Kingdom were right to use anticipatory self-defense because it is a crucial tool of each state to ensure peace and security not only for the countries involved but also for the citizens of