Suchergebnisse

The determination by the George W. Bush administration to enter Iraq and remove the regime of Saddam Hussein from power in early 2003 followed twelve years of Iraqi violations of United Nations Security Council resolutions. Prior to the decision by the United States and its coalition partners to intervene in Iraq with military force, Saddam Hussein had done everything possible to avoid complying with the will of the international community. Of the twenty-six demands made by the Security Council since 1990, Iraq had com- plied with only three. Equally significant, the regime's repression of the Iraqi people continued.

The Iraq invasion of Kuwait and the resulting environmental carnage caused by the burning of oil wells and the fouling of Gulf waters have heightened international concern for the adverse environmental effects of armed conflict. The questions which arise relate to the sufficiency of the existing legal regime intended to protect the environment, and to parallel concern that more extensive strictures could restrict legitimize defensive military operations under the law of armed conflict. This paper examines these issues, and concludes that the current framework of relevant international law, when understood and applied, protects both the environment and the broader interests represented in the law of armed conflict

Operation "Just Cause," the December 1989 military intervention in Panama by the United States to restore order, protect U.S. lives, and ensure the integrity of the Panama Canal Treaty, was the fifth such incursion into that nation by the United States in this century.

The Department of Defense (DoD) has contracted defense support operations to private U.S. and foreign firms in an ever-increasing manner in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Significant factors that have contributed to this outsourcing include the proliferation of military operations, the increased sophistication of U.S. weapons systems used in these operations, and a reduction in the size of the U.S. military after the breakup of the former Soviet Union. The concerns raised with this process have centered on contract management and oversight. Despite the fact that DoD has continually updated its written guidance to defense officials charged with oversight of contractor performance, DoD has faced continuing problems related to a lack of visibility over the totality of contractor support at deployed locations, a lack of adequate contract oversight personnel, and the failure to collect and share institutional knowledge on the use of certain contractors.