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https://theconversation.com/were-the-good-guys-why-moral-storytelling-doesnt-make-the-war-on-iran-necessary-or-legal-277952>
"Since the United States and Israel launched their war against Iran, most
international law experts appear to be speaking with one voice on the legality
of the attacks.
Legal experts have said the attacks violated Article 2(4) of the
UN Charter,
which prohibits the use of force against states. The US and Israel have not
produced any evidence that Iran posed an imminent threat to either of them. And
neither has brought the matter to the UN Security Council. As such, this was a
clear breach of international law.
But even though most scholars agree the strikes were unlawful, the public and
political debate has shifted somewhere else entirely.
Instead of wrestling with the legal questions, many politicians, commentators,
and everyday observers are counterbalancing the illegality with arguments about
legitimacy.
Both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump
have cast the war as a “necessary” fight between good and evil. Netanyahu said:
I know the cost of war. But I know sometimes that war is necessary to
protect us from the people who will destroy us. […] We have to understand
that we’re fighting here the bad guys. We’re the good guys. These people
massacred their own people.
Canada and Australia, two of the US’ closest allies, have both used strikingly
similar language in their statements about the war, saying they supported the
US:
acting to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and to prevent its
regime from further threatening international peace and security.
This idea of legitimacy – that is, what is “right”, “necessary”, or “just” – is
now being thrown around in almost every conversation about the war."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
