THE “WESTPHALIA” DOCTRINE

I have just posted here a historically well-informed email from a moderate Leftist in support of the Iraq war. He refers to the treaty of Westphalia of 1648 in which various European States recognized one-another’s sovereignty not on any legal or moral grounds but simply because, like Mt Everest, they were there. Before the Iraq war, many Leftists referred to this dubious old doctrine to defend Saddam. They argued that because he was there he should be left alone. Fortunately, the successful U.S. invasion of Iraq would seem now to have knocked that notion on the head for good. A good point that the writer makes is that for Britain and the British Commonwealth both World War I and World War II were also pre-emptive wars. They declared war on Germany rather than the other way around. And he thinks that the pre-emptive attack on Iraq was equally well-justified.

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