Tuesday, October 28, 2008

The on-going resistance against foreign occupation: principles according to international law.

For those who might still be confused about what is happening in Iraq, an extract from a piece on International law regarding resisting foreign occupation :

This rule is augmented by the principle of self-determination: under the law of self-determination, a people have the right to resist, with force if necessary, an alien or foreign occupier. The fact that some of the people resisting the U.S./British occupation of Iraq were not part of the pre-invasion Iraqi armed forces is not relevant, as persons who were civilians can take up arms as insurgents against any occupier. As protected combatants they have the right to take up arms against the Occupying Power and cannot be criminally charged except for acts that violate the laws and customs of war. The reason for this rule is obvious: were civilians who spontaneously take up arms and organize themselves into defense forces to be considered “terrorists” instead of combatants, this would mean that persons under attack from a foreign or oppressive force would not be able to fight back and resist without being considered terrorist.
The U.S. administration has generally succeeded in its political rhetoric on the issue: practically no U.S. politicians and very few scholars in NGOs in the U.S. have challenged the false labelling of the Iraq resistance as “
terrorist.”

1 comment:

Lirun said...

so now address how this relates to the local acts of market bombings etc by such people..

analyse the murder of fellow iraqis in mosques and streets etc..

btw mabruk on the new look n feel