Former British Diplomat Blasts May’s Legal Rationale on Syria War

FROM EIR DAILY ALERT

Former British Diplomat Blasts May’s Legal Rationale on Syria War

April 16, 2018 (EIRNS)—Former British diplomat Craig Murray, in a blog posting dated April 15, attacked Prime Minister Theresa May’s legal rationale for the April 13-14 missile strikes on Syria as without any merit.

“It specifically claims as customary international law practices which are rejected by a large majority of states and therefore cannot be customary international law,”

Murray wrote. “It does not quote the UN Charter, any Security Council Resolution or any international treaty or agreement of any kind which justifies this action,” Murray writes.

“This is because there is absolutely nothing which can be quoted—all the relevant texts say that an attack on another state is illegal without authorization of the UN Security Council under Chapter VII of the UN Charter.”

The government argument

“is a classic statement of the doctrine of ‘liberal intervention,’ which is of course the mantra adopted by neo-conservatives over the last 30 years to justify resource grabs. It is not in any way accepted as customary international law. It is a doctrine opposed by a very large number of states, and certainly by the great majority of African, South American and Asian states.”

The day before, Murray pointed out that May had tied the Syria strikes to the Skripal affair. “I don’t think the motive for a Skripal ‘false flag’ could be more starkly demonstrated,” he says.

And he concludes, “The danger is that they will not stop but continue to push, testing how far they can go in weakening Syrian government forces to promote their jihadist allies on the ground, before they spark a real Russian reaction. That way madness lies.”