US Hypocrisy on International Law

On September 12, U.S. President George W. Bush addressed the General Assembly of the United Nations. He was there to make the case for vigorous action against Iraq. Bush told delegates that the U.N. had been born in "the hope of a world moving toward justice, escaping old patterns of conflict and fear." He then reeled off a list of Saddam Hussein's transgressions against Security Council resolutions. Hussein's actions, the president said, proved "his contempt for the United Nations." "Are Security Council resolutions to be honored and enforced or cast aside without consequence?" Bush asked. "Will the United Nations serve the purpose of its founding or will it be irrelevant?"

Much the same question could have been asked in 1986, and was asked by a few dissident voices. In June of that year, the International Court of Justice (also known as the World Court)--the leading institution for the adjudication of international law--issued its verdict in the case of Nicaragua vs. the United States...

The World Court found that the U.S. actions constituted "an unlawful use of force...[that] cannot be justified either by collective self-defence...nor by any right of the United States to take counter-measures involving the use of force." A good argument can be made that the court was, in fact, convicting the United States of international terrorism, which the U.S. Congress has defined as "any activity that...appears to be intended...to intimidate or coerce a civilian population...[or] to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion." The court ordered the United States to pay reparations, estimated at between $12 billion and $17 billion, to Nicaragua.

All of this was, of course, irrelevant to the course of actual events. The United States had announced, as soon as the World Court accepted jurisdiction in the case, that it would boycott the proceedings and not recognize the verdict. Two weeks after that verdict was issued, the U.S. Congress voted an extraordinary $100 million for the "Contras," thereby expressing its determination to pursue the terrorist campaign regardless of international law and global public opinion.

It is true that the U.S. did not have to worry about ignoring Security Council resolutions, as Saddam Hussein has done over the last decade. As a permanent member of the Council, the U.S. can simply veto any resolution it dislikes. Shortly after the World Court decision, Nicaragua appealed to the Security Council, with a motion calling on all states to respect international law. The U.S. killed the resolution (the vote was 11-1, with 3 abstentions). Nicaragua then took its case to the General Assembly, where it secured a 94-3 vote demanding that the U.S. respect the World Court's verdict. The Assembly, though, had no way of enforcing the resolution, given the U.S. veto in the Security Council...

*"Iraq and the US: Contempt for the United Nations," by Adam Jones