Could OIF be legitimized by recourse to the concept of self-defence?
Application of the law of self defence[79] to OIF is exceedingly simple; prior to OIF Iraq had not attacked any state, nor was there any indication that an attack by Iraq was imminent, which the law requires. Arguments of ‘political will’ coupled with ‘ability to act’ (on the part of Iraq) are quite simply worthless in terms of the international legal requirements for self defence – such an interpretation of the right to self defence would likely prove preposterous in that all nations possessing undesirable weapons might be subject to military intervention on the grounds that ‘they have the ability to act’ with or without political will, thus ‘justifying’ self defence – such a notion is plainly incongruous. As a result, self defence does not justify the force used throughout OIF. This is reinforced by recognising that even if Iraq possessed WMD this could not justify a war against Iraq on the basis of ability to act. Numerous states possess WMD, of atomic, biological and chemical natur
