THE IRAQ WAR WAS AN INTERNATIONAL CRIME

More than 15 years after the Iraq War, the government leaders who led the illegal invasion of Iraq remain quite at large.

As time goes on, the violations of law leading up to the Iraq War become ever more plain. And a world in which leaders can so flagrantly invade another country at will is not a world that is safe for anyone.

The war was an act of aggression. Aggression is defined by customary international law as war undertaken not in self defense, and when not authorized by the United Nations Security Council.

Kofi Annan, the former Secretary General of the United Nations, made this quite plain in 2004.

INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTIONS IGNORE GREAT POWER CRIMES

Part of the problem is that justice requires a court or a tribunal willing to investigate and render a judgment. While the international community has several such institutions, none of them are truly set up to look at crimes committed by the Great Powers.

For example, the International Criminal Court will almost certainly never indict an American, and there are several obstacles, perhaps fatal jurisdictional obstacles, to an investigation over Iraq.

The United Nations Security Council, itself dominated by the Great Powers, will not permit an independent tribunal to investigate the Iraq War.

Domestic courts will struggle to deal with matters so weighty as a war. Even if a local court in New York or California had jurisdiction, it seems inconceivable that a judge elected by local citizens would feel compelled, or have the courage, to investigate.

IMMUNITY ALSO PRESENTS A BAR

Finally, there is the issue of immunity. Both domestic and international laws provide for robust immunities for former heads of state. While these doctrines have been overcome before—for example, the Pinochet Case—times are different. Immunity may prove to be insurmountable to a victim seeking redress.

The sole attempt to bring U.S. leaders to justice for the Iraq War hit the wall of immunity. In 2017, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed that President George W. Bush and others had legal immunity for planning and waging the Iraq War—and that such immunity was broad enough to cover even a heinous international crime like aggression.

It does not have to be this way. The international system could be built and tuned to do push for accountability over leaders. The fact that leaders can commit such grave crimes, and remain free, tells us a lot about the state of the world.

It tells us there is much work to do to build a free and safe world for all people.