Abstract
Russian President Vladimir Putin chastised President Bush in a speech at the 43rd annual Munich Conference on Security Policy on Feb. 10 for America's illegal and unilateral use of force outside the parameters of the United Nations. Specifically targeting Bush's revitalization of the old preventive war doctrine (used most recently to invade Iraq), Putin noted that even with the backing of NATO or the EU, international law prohibits use of military force without the backing of the Security Council, over which Russia wields a veto. President Putin technically has a point on the merits. The U.N. Charter makes no room legally for operating outside its provisions with respect to military action absent an invocation of Article 51's self-defense provisions, which require an armed attack to trigger a return military response. Thus, from the standpoint of the Charter, America's 2001 invasion of Afghanistan was legal while its 2003 invasion of Iraq was not. Secretary-General Kofi Annan noted that distinction on several occassions.