Posted on 03/15/2003 10:46:05 AM PST by longtermmemmory
By Art Moore © 2003 WorldNetDaily.com
Could the U.N. use military force to prevent the United States and Britain from waging war on Iraq without a Security Council mandate?
United Nations headquarters in New York
Some anti-war groups are urging the world body to invoke a little-known convention that allows the General Assembly to step in when the Security Council is at an impasse in the face of a "threat to the peace, breach of the peace or act of aggression."
The willingness by the U.S. and Britain to go to war with Iraq without Security Council authorization is the kind of threat the U.N. had in mind when it passed Resolution 377 in 1950, said Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights, a human-rights group in New York City.
In a position paper, Ratner wrote that by invoking the resolution, called "Uniting for Peace," the "General Assembly can meet within 24 hours to consider such a matter, and can recommend collective measures to U.N. members including the use of armed forces to 'maintain or restore international peace and security.'"
The U.N. taking military action against the U.S.?
"It would be very difficult to say what that means," said Ratner in an interview with WorldNetDaily, emphasizing that he did not believe the situation would evolve to that "extreme."
"I don't consider that within the framework I'm talking about," he said.
Shonna Carter, a publicist for Ratner's group, said she believed it would be legitimate for the U.N. to use military force to stop "U.S. aggression."
"But I doubt it would happen," she said. "I don't think that as part of Uniting for Peace they would include military action, but that would have to be something those countries agreed on. …"
Steve Sawyer, spokesman for Greenpeace in New Zealand – which has joined Ratner's group in the campaign – told WND he was not aware of the U.N. being able to use force under any circumstances.
Ratner explained that Resolution 377 would enable the General Assembly to declare that the U.S. cannot take military action against Iraq without the explicit authority of the Security Council. The assembly also could mandate that the inspection regime be allowed to "complete its work."
"It seems unlikely that the United States and Britain would ignore such a measure," Ratner said in his paper. "A vote by the majority of countries in the world, particularly if it were almost unanimous, would make the unilateral rush to war more difficult."
Uniting for Peace can be invoked either by seven members of the Security Council or by a majority of the members of the General Assembly, he said.
'Ways to make U.N. more important'
Ratner, who also teaches at the Columbia University Law School, told WND that the idea of invoking the resolution "came up when I started thinking about the fact that we could get into a situation where the U.S. may go to war without a Security Council resolution or with a veto."
He had two of his students at the law school research the resolution and now has sent out the word to every U.N. mission in New York.
In addition, about 12 missions a day are being visited by campaigners, he said, and the response has been generally very positive.
He expects there to be support from the 116 countries in the non-aligned movement, who are "already saying inspectors should be given more time."
Greenpeace's involvement has greatly expanded the campaign's reach, he said, since "we're just a small human-rights litigation organization."
"I've done a lot of work with international law and with the U.N.," he said, "and we're always interested in figuring out ways to make the U.N. more important."
Sedition?
A circular e-mail letter promoting the campaign said in the first paragraph that "if Iraq is invaded, it would empower the General Assembly to restore peace, including an authorization to use military action to accomplish this, if necessary."
The letter includes Ratner's name and e-mail address as a contact, but he says he did not send out that particular version, which included the line about the U.N. using military action.
A political science professor at the University of Michigan who forwarded the letter to colleagues, added a note above the text, obtained by WND, that said: "Below you will find an excellent and urgently needed proposal for stopping the war before it starts from the Center for Constitutional Rights. …"
"Please make this major peace action a high priority and forward this message to others," said Susan Wright, who indicated she is with the university's Institute for Research on Women and Gender.
Is Wright essentially urging foreign countries to be willing to take military action against her own country?
"I wouldn't say it's necessarily sedition," said Ratner. "Advocacy is one thing, having the means to carry it out is another. It's not something I would ever recommend."
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Art Moore is a news editor with WorldNetDaily.com.
Don't misunderstand my meaning : the UN has become the enemy of freedom throughout the world. As for negotiating with a weak US leader (no undeserved titles for this guy ...it's already happened. We have Bill Clinton to thank for signing UN treaties which in effect were to hand US sovereignity over to the rule of the UN.
Thus the war we are watching unfold between President Bush and even Prime Minister Blair - who is desperately trying to correct his mistake of listening to and going along with Bubba - and the United Nations.
Gosh darn those misplaced modifiers again. So, when the goofs at the Center for Constitutional Rights start a war - then maybe should stop it...?
Pity the poor parents paying mega bucks to have their kids "edjucatid" by the like of this remedial ed. person at the U of M.
RIGHT!!
...And many of us armed Americans with specialty training, courtesy the US military. We'd all be happy to give a demonstration of our skills, heheheh. As I said...the left has NO idea who they're dealing with (come to think of it, neither did the Islamakazis)
They would hit NY first I would guess and that's where I am.
Read an old newspaper (1875) which was about a local family who had smallpox. I took particualr notice that the family was isolated, that there were no cases in the nearby city (Rochester) and that "The weather is SO EXTREMELY COLD that the infection is not likely to be transmitted in the clothing of persons.
Maybe our bitter cold was a blessing this year just as our unusual warmth and sunshine was a blessing last year as it kept our spirits up.
Yeah I would like nothing better but --- the old saying: Keep your friends close and your enemies closer - seems to apply I think.
Yeah...SEVENTEEN TIMES. I also need to point out that he's invoking...A UN RESOLUTION to authorize use of force on the US - and therefore Britain and Australia. By even SUGGESTING such a possibility, Ratner shows exceptional ignorance of how the UN even works.
Spend a few minutes on this thread, and you will not feel alone and by yourself. We are the majority, and we are on the Right Side of this War against terrorism!
That is the crux.
"Forget the UN for the moment. How do we stope these 5th columnists?"
Exactly the way we're doing right now : prove their irrelevance and weakness again and again....backed up with the clear and unequivocal threat of devestating force. The left of the world have no idea of what they're messing with, or they wouldn't CONSIDER proposing such an idea. The left - and their government, the UN, depend upon US, British and Australian troops and firepower to enforce their ridiculous resolutions. They tend to forget that.
This is gonna be rough. The fight to wrest control away from the Stalinsts may have begun in our lifetime, but probably won't end in our lifetime. There are - unfortunately - three generations of entrenched one-world socialists to deal with right now...our kids and grandkids will fight the fourth and fifth generations.
If the current sign-up rate holds, it should be in about 5 years. John, is that a good estimate?
5.56mm
The bitter cold definitely IS a blessing (in disguise) 'cause the cold kills off the insect pests that carry disease, like mosquitoes, fleas, ticks, even wasps.
Agreed. I'd MUCH prefer we had our enemies in a crushingly tight grip than to let them go off on their own to foment heaven knows what evil.
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