Libya and More

[Raag Yadava]

Though still rare, I've been coming across increasing references to international law in Indian writing. This article from the Frontline is a case in point. It questions the limited mandate of the NATO in Libya (to protect civilians), given its trigger-happy administration targeting the "bad guys" (as George Bush once called the Al-Qaeda). Whether international law permits targeted killing when the use of force is justified under the R2P doctrine is questionable, at the least (details here and here, given the limited Security Council Mandate in Resolution 1973). Harold Koh, in a recent remark at the ASIL Midyear Conference, justified this action by referring to the "constant" threat posed by enemy combatants to the civilian population. Even if we conveniently overlook his characterization of the Government soldiers as enemy combatants  (which is in line with recent State Department policy to introduce the law of neutrality into international armed conflicts) and the existence of an armed conflict, the link he proposes seems to be tenuous. 

Either way, with a perceptible tension in US-Israel relations (specifically over the Palestine request for statehood), the US finds itself in a tough spot with its friendly dictators being ushered out at the altar of the "will of the people" (oddly reminiscent of the US itself in 1776!). Curiously, as the Tunisian elections indicate, an odd partnership between the United States and the Islamist parties is not as far fetched as one would have imagined a year back.