Iraq
265 Articles

Obama’s Forever War Starts Now
Ed Note. This piece also appears in Foreign Policy. When President Barack Obama announced the start of a U.S.-led bombing campaign in Iraq against the Islamic State on Aug. 7,…

Schiff Introduces Updated Proposal for AUMF to Fight the Islamic State
Earlier today, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) introduced a new proposal for a limited authorization for the use of military force (AUMF) against the Islamic State. Though largely…

Assessing (Again) the Defensive Operations in Syria
The military operations against the Islamic State and Khorasan group in Syria have already received a lot of attention among international lawyers. The conversation has focused…

Top 10 Year in Review: International Criminal Justice
As part of our “year in review” series, I suggest below some of the top developments in international criminal justice with links to our prior coverage, and the thoughts of…

What the Cold War Can Teach Us About Containing ISIL
Editors’ Note: The following post is the latest installment of “Monday Reflections,” in which a different Just Security editor takes an in-depth look at the big stories…

Sen. Kaine: Narrow the Scope of the 2001 AUMF
WASHINGTON — It’s no secret that Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) doesn’t buy the White House’s claim that the 2001 authorization for the use of military force (AUMF) against al-Qaeda…

An Obligation to Prevent Rebel Groups from Committing Atrocities
It’s no secret that several nations (including the United States) are arming or otherwise supporting rebel groups in Syria, and that Russia is doing the same in eastern Ukraine.…

Chemical Weapons and Secrecy: a Terrible Combination
Last week’s New York Times article detailing the fact that, between 2004 and 2011, American troops in Iraq “secretly reported finding roughly 5,000 chemical warheads, shells…

Authorizing Force: A Review of Turkish, Dutch and French Action
As the number of states using military force against ISIS in Syria and Iraq have increased, a series of domestic authorizations have emerged from their national executives and…

Assessing the Claim that ISIL is a Successor to Al Qaeda—Part 2 (Organizational Goals)
The key question we are asking in this (two-part) series of posts is whether Congress’ 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) applies to ISIL. More precisely, we…

British Parliament Authorizes Airstrikes in Iraq; Debate Predictably Weighs in on Action in Syria
On Friday, the British House of Commons overwhelmingly voted (524-43) to approve the U.K.’s participation in airstrikes against ISIL targets in Iraq. The success of the vote…

The Foreign Fighter Resolution: Implementing a Holistic Strategy to Defeat ISIL
United Nations Security Council Resolution 2178, adopted on September 24 after a debate involving dozens of world leaders, including United States President Barack Obama, is legally…