Reference no: EM132452063

Following the 1991 Gulf War between the United Nations and Iraq, the Iraqi government refused to allow U.N. inspectors into various facilities suspected of containing chemical or biological weapons and long-range delivery system capable of employing such weapons.  After several years of unsuccessfully attempting to conduct the U.N.-mandated inspections, the United States declared that if the U.N. teams were not allowed to complete their inspection, that the U.S. would use military force to coerce Iraq into compliance.

1. Was military force in this case justified under the Just War Tradition? Explain fully your answer.
2. Was the unilateral use of force by the U.S. justified?  Explain fully your answer.
3. If other nations in the region were permitted to stock weapons of mass destruction, why should the Iraqi people not be afforded the same means of self-defense?  Would your answer be different if the government that initiated the Gulf War (i.e., Saddam Hussein) were overthrown?  Explain fully your answer.
4. In early March 2003, President Bush stated publicly that he would force members of the U.N. Security Council to "show their cards" by forcing a vote on whether to use military force to disarm Iraq and force compliance with earlier U.N. Resolutions.  A vote against the use of force would, as senior U.S. administration officials put it, "make the U.N. irrelevant."  Later (March 14), the U.S. administration changed its position and the Secretary of State (Colin Powell) stated publicly that the U.S. would not require a vote, and that a vote was not needed to justify the use of force.  Why was it politically important not to have a vote, given that it would almost certainly oppose U.S. military action? Explain fully your answer.