The
war in Iraq raises basic questions about the role of multilateral
institutions in the enforcement of international norms, the
U.S. use of force in the future, and the relevance of ethics
and law to constraining unilateral war. As the situation inside
Iraq moves toward reconstruction, it is clear that the war
also has unleashed tensions between religious and ethnic groups
within Iraq, which threaten to undermine the democratization
process. In addition, resentment against the United States
throughout the Middle East and elsewhere in the world has
exacerbated divisions in the international community.
These realities pose complex questions for the future:
1) What long term impact will the war have on relations between
the Muslim world and the West? And what impact will these
growing divisions have on multilateral efforts to control
weapons of mass destruction and to reduce terrorism?
2) Who will will manage reconstruction and development efforts
in Iraq? And who will oversee the politically-sensitive search
for weapons of mass destruction, which played such a prominent
role in the Bush administration's case for war?
This webpage features recent commentary by Kroc Institute
fellows on these and other repercussions of the war, as well
as proposals for strengthening international peace in this
volatile environment. The site also includes links to background
materials and related research projects. Additional information
can be found in our archived page, Alternatives
to War with Iraq. Among the most extensive links is the
Sanctions and Security
Project, a joint initiative of the Kroc Institute and
Fourth Freedom Forum.
In all its research efforts, the Kroc Institute gives special
attention to the ethics
of war and peace, a continual concern of faculty from
various disciplines.
New materials will be added to this site as they become available.
Research and Commentary
"DEFENSA: Los peligros de la doctrina Bush" [in
spanish], editorial by George A. Lopez, La Opinion, October
19, 2003.
"US
Repeats Past Mistakes," editorial by George Lopez
in USA Today, November 7, 2003.
"Perils
of Bush's Pre-emptive War Doctrine," editorial
by George A. Lopez, Indianapolis Star, Friday, October
3, 2003.
"U.S.
Must Accept Outside Help to Secure Iraq," editorial
by George Lopez in the Chicago Sun-Times, Wednesday, August
27, 2003.
"Iraq's
Future Lies in Secrets of Its Skeletons," by Daniel
Philpott in The Chicago Tribune, Sunday, July 27, 2003.
"Unproven:
The Controversy Over Justifying War in Iraq," by David Cortright, Alistair Millar,
George A. Lopez, and Linda Gerber, Kroc Institute/Fourth
Freedom
Forum Policy Brief #F12A (June 2003).
"End Game? Removing
Sanctions in Iraq," by David Cortright, Linda Gerber,
Alistair Millar, and George A. Lopez, Kroc Institute/Fourth
Freedom Forum Policy Brief #F11 (May 2003).
"Let
the UN Decide," editorial by George A. Lopez,
U.S.A.Today, Thursday, May 7, 2003.
"U.S. May Spurn U.N. Sanctions On Iraq to Spur Reconstruction,
by Neil King Jr. and Jess Bravin, 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).
"What
We Do Now," by David Corright, The Nation
(April 21, 2003).
"Who'll Control Iraq's Oil? Tangled Questions Abound," by
Felicity Barringer and Neela Banerjee, New York Times,
April 9, 2003 (quoting Robert Johansen).
"Civilians
and Warfare," interview with George A. Lopez, WBEZ's
Odyssey, March 24, 2003.
"Pyrrhic
Diplomacy' Increases Risk," South Bend Tribune, March
18, 2003 (Michiana Point of View by Daniel Lindley).
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.
Background Materials
"A War Against the Turks?
Erasmus on War and Peace," by Fred Dallmayr, Kroc Institute
Occasional Paper #23:OP:1 (December 2002).
"Catholics
should be more conscientious about objecting to war,"
by Father Michael Baxter, C.S.C., Sounding Board, U.S. Catholic,
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).
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.
"After
September 11: How Ethics Can Help" by George A. Lopez,
America, (October 8, 2001): pp. 20 - 24.
"Toward Smart Sanctions
on Iraq," George A. Lopez, Kroc Institute Policy
Brief #5 (April 2001).
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.
"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
Top of Page
Home
> Media Commentary > Assessing
the War in Iraq