<nettime> Hisatake Kato's opposition to justification of "war" by US government

[kentao <kentao@noos.fr>]

A Japanese philosopher, Hisatake Kato, published his opposition to
justification of "war" by US government against the precedent terrorism to
WTC and to Pentagon.


IN TERMS OF INTERNATIONAL LAW, THERE IS NO LEGITIMACY FOR WARS OF
RETALIATION AGAINST THE RECENT TERRORIST ATTACKS

Hisatake KATO

1. A conflict becomes recognized as a "war" from the perspective of
international law not simply when military actions are taken, but when a
sovereign state or a guerrilla group expresses its intention to wage a war.
Therefore, the recent terrorist attacks would be recognized as crimes, not
as a war.
Thus, the recent incidents should be treated as crimes.

2. International law makes it clear that efforts for peaceful resolution
should be made first to deal with any disputes.
Since President Bush has not demonstrated efforts to resolve any possibility
of future occurrences of the terrorist attacks in peaceful way, new military
actions are not legitimate.

3. International law does not recognize the legitimacy of wars of
retaliation.
Therefore, even if the terrorist attack this time signifies a beginning of a
war, retaliation cannot be allowed unless the terrorists continue their
attacks.

4. In order for a war of retaliation against the recent terrorist attacks to
be recognized as legitimately exercising the right of self-defense, it must
be waged against existing and obvious illegal actions.
Preventive self-defense is not accepted by either international law or
domestic law.
Therefore, a war of retaliation against the terrorist attacks is not
accepted as a legitimate act of self-defense.

5. The principles of international law state that there is no obligation for
one state to hand over criminals to another state unless an agreement to do
so has been concluded between the two states.
President Bush's argument that military force will be used if the criminals
are not handed over is itself in violation of international law.
For the reasons stated above, I conclude that a war of retaliation against
the terrorist attacks is not legitimate under international law.

September 19, 2001

Hisatake KATO
Dean of Tottori University
of Environmental Studies
kato@kankyo-u.ac.jp
(transl.by Junko Edahiro
<junko@e.email.ne.jp>)
(Please feel free to reproduce, reprint or forward the statement in any
form.)
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