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Dulce et Decorum Est: The Strategic Role of Legal Principles in the Falklands War

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 February 2017

Thomas M. Franck
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Abstract

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Type
Editorial Comments
Information
American Journal of International Law , Volume 77 , Issue 1 , January 1983 , pp. 109 - 124
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of International Law 1983

References

1 N.Y. Times, June 16, 1982, at A24.

2 Id., June 20, 1982, §4, at El.

3 Professor Hugh Trevor-Roper’s brief, illuminating note on Johnson’s inquiry into the 1770– 1771 Falklands crisis, including this quotation, is found in id., May 29, 1982, at 23.

4 Horace, Odes, HI, ii, 13.

5 N.Y. Times, May 21, 1982, at A10.

6 The author was in Britain for the United Nations during part of the events herein described, although only occasionally in pubs.

7 Dame Vera Lynn, perhaps best known for her World War II rendition of “White Cliffs of Dover,” had resurfaced for the occasion with a new recording called “I Love This Land,” which became an instant hit in Britain.

8 The Economist, May 1, 1982, at 12.

9 Amb. Edmonde Dever, UN Doc. S/PV.2363, at 48–50 (1982).

10 UNSC Res. 502 (Apr. 3, 1982).

11 The European Economic Community unanimously voted to impose economic and military sanctions on Argentina on Apr. 10, 1982. N.Y. Times, Apr. 11, 1982, §1, at 1, 12.

12 N.Y. Times, May 23, 1982, §4, at E23.

13 128 Cong. Rec. S3366–68 (daily ed. Apr. 13, 1982).

14 N.Y. Times, May 31, 1982, at A5.

15 For coverage of the Haig-Kirkpatrick contretemps, see id.. May 31, 1982, at A5, and June 1, 1982, at A8.

16 For this quote and the comment thereon by Carlos Fuentes, see Anthony Lewis, id., May 31, 1982, at A13.

17 Id., June 9, 1982, at Al.

18 Id., June 3, 1982, at A14.

19 Id., June 1, 1982, at A8.

20 Id., May 29, 1945, at 8. The text is slightly different in the official State Department version. 12 Dep’t State Bull. 1007, 1013 (1945).

21 On March 31, 1939, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, speaking for his country and for France, pledged help if Poland’s independence was threatened by Germany. On Aug. 25, a British-Polish treaty of alliance was signed in London. Agreement of Mutual Assistance between the United Kingdom and Poland, 143 Brit. & Foreign St. Papers 301–03 (1939).

22 This may have been an inadvertence. See Acheson, , Crisis in Asia—An Examination of U.S. Policy, 22 Dep’t State Bull. 111, 116 (1950)Google Scholar.

23 For example, Amb. Javier Chamorro Mora of Nicaragua was particularly strident in his denunciation of British colonialism and support for its “victim,” Argentina, despite Nicaragua’s well-known aversion to the “fascists” of Buenos Aires who were believed to be sending troops to act as U.S. proxies in Central America. UN Doc. S/PV.2363, at 16–25 (1982). See also N.Y. Times, May 23, 1982, §1, at 16.

24 Amb. Muñoz Ledo, UN Doc. S/PV.2362, at 41, 46 (1982).

25 N.Y. Times, May 23, 1982, §1, at 16.

26 Id., §4, at E23.

27 Id., § l , at l4 .

28 Ibid.

29 Id., June 3, 1982, at A14.

30 Draft Final Communiqué, Political Section, Ministerial Meeting of the Coordinating Bureau of the Non-Aligned Countries, May 31–June 5, 1982, Doc. NOAL/CONF.6/BUR.3/DOC.1/ Rev.2, at 40–42. The nonaligned, while aligned with Argentina in respect of its claim of sovereignty over the Malvinas, reiterated the call for “peaceful settlement of disputes between states and non-use of force in international relations.” Id. at 40.

31 GA Res. 2625 (XXV), 25 UN GAOR Supp. (No. 28) at 121, UN Doc. A/8028 (1970).

32 Ibid. The provisions of the declarations are not numbered.

33 Ibid.

34 Ibid.

35 Amb. Noel Dorr, UN Doc.’ S/PV.2360, at 56 (1982).

36 Ireland: draft resolution, UN Doc. S/15106 (1982). The resolution called on both parties to suspend hostilities for 72 hours, while the Secretary-General renewed his good offices efforts. The resolution was not adopted.

37 Amb. Zambrano Velasco, UN Doc. S/PV.2362, at 21–35 (1982).

38 Informally, as in the Havana meeting of the nonaligned. See note 30 supra.

39 Amb. Delpree-Crespo of Guatemala told the Security Council:

It is inconceivable that the colonialist system, which is fortunately in its death throes throughout the world, including our continent, should have sprung to life, allowing a colonialist empire to impose its interests upon our America to the detriment of a Latin American country, whose right to sovereignty over the full extent of its territory has been internationally recognized.

UN Doc. S/PV.2362, at 97, 98–100 (1982). He clearly indicated that Guatemala, in respect of Belize, had suffered “similar treatment” in “similar circumstances.” Ibid.

40 Amb. C. G. Maina, UN Doc. S/PV.2364, at 21, 23–26 (1982).

41 Id. at 26.

42 Ibid.

43 Letter dated May 11, 1982, from the Permanent Representative of Guyana to the United Nations addressed to the President of the Security Council, UN Doc. S/15072 (1982).

44 Treaty between Great Britain and China, signed at Nanking, Aug. 29, 1842, 30 Brit. & Foreign St. Papers 389–92 (1842); Convention of Friendship between Great Briuin and China, signed at Pekin (sic), Oct. 24, 1860, 50 id. at 10–12 (1860).

45 Foreign Minister Jorge Illueca, UN Doc. S/PV.2362, at 63, 81 (1982).

46 Illueca, UN Doc. S/PV.2363, at 76, 92 (1982).

47 Illueca, UN Doc. S/PV.2362, at 71 (1982).

48 N.Y. Times, May 29, 1982, at 23.

49 Amb. Lloydston Jacobs, UN Doc. S/PV.2360, at 83 (1982).

50 Ramphal, S. S., “International Collective Security: Precondition for Peace and Security,” Statement to Parliamentary Mass Lobby, Central Hall, Westminster (Apr. 27, 1982)Google Scholar.

51 The author participated in these unrecorded discussions.

52 Steel, Self-interest, N.Y. Times, May 28, 1982, at A27.

53 16 UN SCOR (987th mtg.) at 15–18, UN Doc. S/PV.987 (1961).

54 Agreement between the Republic of Indonesia and the Kingdom of the Netherlands concerning West New Guinea (West Irian), 18 UN GAOR Annex 1 (Agenda Item 20), UN Doc. A / 5578 (1963).

55 GA Res. 2504 (XXIV), 24 UN GAOR Supp. (No. 30) at 3, UN Doc. A/7630 (1969).

56 GA Res. 3485 (XXX), 30 UN GAOR Supp. (No. 34) at 118, UN Doc. A/10034 (1975).

57 The mission was authorized by GA Res. 3292 (XXIX), 29 UN GAOR Supp. (No. 31) at 103, UN Doc. A/9631 (1974). See Report of the United Nations Visiting Mission to Spanish Sahara, in the Report of the Special Committee, UN Doc. A/10023/Add.5, Annex, at 26–27 (1975).

58 Advisory Opinion on Western Sahara, 1975ICJ Rep. 12,31-32 (in part quoting with approval its Advisory Opinion on The Legal Consequences for States of the Continued Presence of South Africa in Namibia (South West Africa) notwithstanding Security Council Resolution 276 (1970), 1971 id. at 16, 31).

59 GA Res. 3458A (XXX) and GA Res. 3458B (XXX), 30 UN GAOR Supp. (No. 34) at 116– 17, UN Doc. A/10034 (1975).

60 See The Question of Self-Determination in Western Sahara: Hearing Before the Subcomms. on International Organizations and on Africa of the House Comm. on International Relations, 95th Cong., 1st Sess. (1977); Human Rights in East Timor: Hearings Before the Subcomm. on International Organizations of the House Comm. on International Relations, 95th Cong., 1st Sess. (1977).

61 GA Res. 2065 (XX), 20 UN GAOR Supp. (No. 14) at 57, UN Doc. A/6014 (1965).

62 GA Res. 3160 (XXVIII), 28 UN GAOR Supp. (No. 30) at 108–09, UN Doc. A/9030 (1973).

63 See, e.g., GA Res. 2429 (XXIII), 23 UN GAOR Supp. (No. 18) at 64, UN Doc. A/7218 (1968), which asks Britain “to terminate the colonial situation in Gibraltar.”

64 Interview conducted by author, New York, June 2, 1982.

65 Ibid.

66 “That was a way of putting it—not very satisfactory,” Eliot, T. S., “East Coker,” from Four Quartets, in The Complete Poems and Plays 123, 125 (1952).Google Scholar

67 Carlos Fuentes made a somewhat different connection:

If Mrs. Kirkpatrick was sent down to Buenos Aires to say, “What wonderful people you are, you are not totalitarians, you are simply authoritarians, we love you,” and Mr. Enders went down there, and Secretary Haig, when asked what the United States had in common with the Argentine military regime, said, “We both believe in God”—naturally the junta felt they had the green light from the United States to go forward with this adventure.

Quoted by Anthony, Lewis, N.Y. Times, May 31, 1982, at A13 Google Scholar.

68 See, e.g., Hoffmann, S., International Systems and International Law, 14 World Pol. 205, 207 (1961)Google Scholar.

69 N.Y. Times, June 9, 1982, at A16.