The Trouble with Mixed Motives: Debating the Political, Legal, and Moral Dimensions of Intervention

Abstract

In the aftermath of the Iraq war and transfer to Iraqi authority, a bitter debate persists over the motives for the war and the reasons for the transatlantic antipathy it engendered. There are those who argue that moral talk coming out of the White House represents a fig leaf for realpolitik, a change in tactics after the failure to find evidence of Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction. Why had President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair, both known for their moral personal philosophies and foreign policies, relied primarily on legal and threat-based justifications? Why did they leave until the eleventh hour the moral argument about Saddam's brutish behavior toward the Iraqi people? Does the timing of various justifications belie their validity?

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 2004
Accession Number
ADA523240

Entities

People

  • Susan D. Fink

Organizations

  • Naval War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Counter WMD
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Diplomacy
  • Europe
  • Foreign Policy
  • Germany
  • Governments
  • Human Rights
  • Intergovernmental Organizations
  • International Law
  • International Organizations
  • International Relations
  • Intervention
  • Iraqi-War
  • National Security
  • New York
  • United States
  • War
  • Weapons Of Mass Destruction

Readers

  • Military History of the United States in the 20th Century.
  • Military and Counterinsurgency Studies.
  • Strategic Security Studies