U.S.
proposals for a war against Iraq raise difficult questions
of international politics and ethics that have long been the
focus of Kroc Institute research. In the former area the current
crisis poses the dilemma of unilateral vs. multilateral action
to achieve a global norm, in this case disarmament. The long
track record of UN action regarding Iraq means, for many analysts,
that only UN action is legitimate. The United States, however,
has claimed that its own security interests are so jeopardized
that it can take action against Iraq as pre-emptive self-defense.
As this national and international debate unfolds, Kroc Institute
faculty have been heavily involved in research central to
this debate, from estimates of Iraq's weapons capabilities,
to the strengths and weaknesses of pursuing unilateral vs.
multilateral action.
The analysis of these issues at the political and strategic
level is complemented by consideration of the ethics
of war and peace, a continual concern of faculty from
various disciplines. Kroc Institute faculty are deeply engaged
in the question of whether a coming war with Iraq will fit
the conditions of a just war or meets other standards of international
justice.
This webpage features recent commentary by Kroc Institute
fellows about the proposed war against Iraq, as well as links
to background materials and related research projects. Among
the most extensive links is the Sanctions
Project, a joint initiative of the Kroc Institute and
Fourth Freedom Forum.
This effort has done extensive research on economic sanctions
as an alternative to military action. Based on a comprehensive
analysis of all sanctions imposed by the UN Security Council
in the 1990s, the project has developed proposals for making
sanctions more effective against Iraq..
This page is no longer being updated. Research and commentary
completed since the outbreak of war is featured on our new
webpage, Assessing the War in Iraq.
Research and Commentary
A. Politics and Strategy
"Grading
Iraqi Compliance," A Report by the Sanctions and
Security Project of Fourth Freedom Forum and the Kroc Institute
(March 2003).
"Contested Case: Do the Facts Justify the Case for War
in Iraq?" by David Cortright, Alistair Millar, George
A. Lopez, and Linda Gerber, Kroc Institute/Fourth Freedom
Forum Policy Brief F8 (February 2003)
[Executive Summary]
[Full Report]
"UN Weapons Inspections in Iraq: A Progress Report," by David
Cortright, Alistair Millar, George A. Lopez, and Linda Gerber,
Kroc Institute/Fourth Freedom Forum Policy Brief F6 (January
23, 2003) [Executive
Summary] [Inspections
Chart] [Full
Report]
"War
Aginst Iraq: A Dangerous Bet," by Daniel Lindley, Chicago
Tribune, October 27, 2002.
"Winning Without
War: Sensible Security Options for Dealing with Iraq,"
by David Cortright, George A. Lopez and Alistair Millar, Kroc
Institute/Fourth Freedom Forum Policy Brief F5 (October 2002).
Disarming
Iraq: Nonmilitary Strategies and Options, by David Cortright
and George A. Lopez, Arms Control Today (September
2002).
"Stop
the War Before it Starts," by David Cortright, The
Progressive, August 2002.
Policy Report: Sanctions,
Inspection, and Containment: Viable Policy Options in Iraq,
by David Cortright, Alistair Millar and George A. Lopez (May
2002).
"The
Limits of Coercion," by George A. Lopez and David
Corright, The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, vol. 56,
no. 6(November-December 2000): 18-20.
"Trouble
in the Gulf: Pain and Promise," by George A. Lopez
and David Cortright, The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists,
vol. 54, no. 3 (May-June, 1998): 39-43.
B. Ethical Concerns
"Catholics
should be more conscientious about objecting to war,"
by Father Michael Baxter, C.S.C., Sounding Board, U.S. Catholic,
forthcoming.
"The Ethics Shift and the March to War" by George A. Lopez,
America, forthcoming.
"Iraq & Just War Thinking" by George A. Lopez, Commonweal,
(September 27, 2002): pp. 14 -15.
"Dispelling
the "We" Fallacy from the Body of Christ: The Task of Catholics
in a Time of War," by Father Michael Baxter, C.S.C.,
South Atlantic Quarterly, vol. 101, no. 2 (Spring 2002).
"After
September 11: How Ethics Can Help" by George A. Lopez,
America, (October 8, 2001): pp. 20 - 24.
"Toward
More Effective and More Ethical Sanctions," by George
A. Lopez and David Cortright, America, (November 25,
2000): pp. 18-22.
"What
to do about Iraq? The moral dilemma of sanctions" by George
A. Lopez and David Cortright, Sojourners, March-April,
vol 27, no 2 (1998), pp. 12 - 13.
Kroc Faculty in the Media and the Community
"Let
the UN Decide," editorial in U.S.A.Today by George
A. Lopez on Thursday, May 7, 2003.
"U.S. May Spurn U.N. Sanctions On Iraq to Spur Reconstruction" by
Neil King Jr. and Jess Bravin, Staff reporters of The
Wall Street Journal, May 5, 2003 (quoting George A.
Lopez).
"The
Search for Evidence," The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer,
April 22, 2003 (interview with George A. Lopez).
"Pyrrhic
Diplomacy' Increases Risk," South
Bend Tribune,
March 18, 2003 (Michiana Point of View by Daniel Lindley).
"Confronting Iraq/Protests Peace Activists;Rallies Seeking
Time for UN," the Boston Globe, January 28, 2003, (interview
with David Cortright, quoted by Tatsha Robertson, Globe Staff).
"Weapons Inspectors' Report & Current Situation with Iraq,"
The Bev Smith Show, American Urban Radio Network, January
28, 2003 (interview with George A. Lopez).
"Iraq
War," NPR, the Diane Rehm Show from WAMU, Washington,
D.C., January 21, 2003 (interview with David Cortright).
"Protesting War in Iraq," U.S. News & World Report, (pp.22-23),
January 20, 2003 (interview with David Cortright with reporter
Bay Fang).
"Protesting War: Groups Battle Stereotypes Too," Chicago
Tribune, page 1, January 17, 2003 (interview with David Cortright
with reporter Karen Brandon).
"Setting
a Timetable on Iraq Inspections," the NewsHour with Jim
Lehrer, January 15, 2003 (interview with George Lopez).
Iraq Update,
NPR's Diane Rehm Show, December 11, 2002 (with David Cortright).
"Is
an Attack against Iraq a 'Just War?'" NBC Nightly
News with Tom Brokaw, October 18, 2002 (interviews with Fr.
Michael Baxter and George A. Lopez).
"Peace and Human Rights: Scholarship and Teaching After
9-11," presentation by George A. Lopez at the University
of Dayton in collaboration with the United States Institute
of Peace.
"Assessing Terror, Violence and Peace One Year after
9-11," a lecture given by George A. Lopez at the College
of William and Mary, September 11, 2002.
"Stop the War Before it Starts," an address by
David Cortright to the French Parliament and European Parliament,
September 10, 2002.
C-SPAN, September 20, 2002, David Cortright participated
in a Congressional Briefing on alternative options for dealing
with Iraq in liew of invasion.
"Alternatives
to War with Iraq," NPR's Diane Rehm Show, August 13, 2002
(with David Cortright).
George Lopez gave interviews on the development of smart
sanctions on Iraq during the week of August 9-14 on WERE (Cleveland,
OH), WNNJ (New Jersey), WRPI (Troy, NY), WPFK (Los Angeles,
CA), and XM Satellite Radio.
"Restructuring
UN Sanctions in Iraq," NPR's Talk of the Nation, May 16,
2002 (with David Cortright).
"Restructuring UN Sanctions in Iraq," NPR's Morning Edition,
with Mike Shuster, May 15, 2002 (with David Cortright).
"UN Sanctions," NPR's All Things Considered, May 7, 2002
(commentary by David Cortright).
Campus Events
Peace
and War in 2003: Debating the Issues
A weekly forum dedicated to exploring the various issues
relevant to the prospect of war.
Lecture:
The Coming War with Iraq
Introduction
Dialup
(28K-56K) | Broadband
(100K+)
David
Cortright, President, Fourth Freedom Forum
Dialup
(28K-56K) | Broadband
(100K+)
George
Lopez, Director of Policy Studies, Kroc Institute
Dialup
(28K-56K) | Broadband
(100K+)
Question and Answer
Dialup
(28K-56K) | Broadband
(100K+)
[To view video - Click on the appropriate icon below the
panelist's name to download and view the video of that panelist's
presentation. To view this file, you will need the Windows
Media Player 7.1, which is available for free
download. Please report problems viewing the video to
Andre Ratasepp.]
Background Materials
"A War Against the Turks?
Erasmus on War and Peace," by Fred Dallmayr, Kroc Institute
Occasional Paper #23:OP:1 (December 2002).
Sanctions
and the Search for Security: Challenges to UN Action ,
David Cortright and George A. Lopez, with Linda Gerber.(Boulder,
Colorado: Lynne Reinner Publishers, 2002).
Smart
Sanctions: Targeting Economic Statecraft, David Cortright
and George A. Lopez, eds. Lanham, Md.: Rowman and Littlefield,
2002.
The Sanctions
Decade: Assessing UN Strategies for the 1990s ,David Cortright
and George A. Lopez with Jaleh Dashti-Gibson, and Julia Wagler, (Boulder, CO: Lynne
Rienner Publishers, 2000). Winner of the 2000 Choice Award
as an Outstanding Academic Title.
"Toward Smart Sanctions
on Iraq," George A. Lopez, Kroc Institute Policy
Brief #5 (April 2001).
"Morbidity and Mortality among Iraqi Children from 1990 through
1998: Assessing the Impact of the Gulf War and Economic Sanctions,"
by Richard Garfield, Kroc Institute Occasional Paper #16:OP:3
[Abstract - HTML] [Full-text
- PDF]
"Are Sanctions Just? The Problematic Case of Iraq," by David
Cortright and George A. Lopez, Journal of International
Affairs 52, no. 2 (Spring 1999): 33-53.
"The
Gulf War: Not so clean," By George Lopez Bulletin
of the Atomic Scientists, vol. 47, no. 7 (Sept. 1991) .
Related Kroc Institute Research Projects
The Sanctions Project
Ethics and the Use of Force
The Peacemaking Role
of International Norms, Policies and Institutions
Links
The
Bulletin of Atomic Scientists
Carnegie
Council on Ethics and International Affairs - Ethics and the
New War
Fourth
Freedom Forum
National
Council of Churches - Resources for Advocacy on Iraq
United
Nations Office of the Iraq Programme
United
Nations Development Program - Iraq
United
Nations Association of the United States of America
United
States Department of State - Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs
United
States Institute of Peace - Iraq web links
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