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Name: Roger O'Keefe, Ph.D.
Title: University Lecturer, International Law
Cambridge University

Position: CON to the question "Should the U.S. have attacked Iraq?"
Reasoning:

"There is no justification under international law for the use of military force against Iraq. The UN charter outlaws the use of force with only two exceptions: individual or collective self-defence in response to an armed attack and action authorised by the security council as a collective response to a threat to the peace, breach of the peace or act of aggression. There are currently no grounds for a claim to use such force in self-defence. The doctrine of pre-emptive self-defence against an attack that might arise at some hypothetical future time has no basis in international law. Neither security council resolution 1441 nor any prior resolution authorises the proposed use of force in the present circumstances...

A decision to undertake military action in Iraq without proper security council authorisation will seriously undermine the international rule of law. Of course, even with that authorisation, serious questions would remain. A lawful war is not necessarily a just, prudent or humanitarian war."

"War Would Be Illegal"
Signed by 16 European Law Professors
The Guardian, March 7, 2003
Credibility
Ranking:		  Experts
PhD's, JD's (lawyers), Judges, Members of Congress, Ambassadors, Consulate Generals, heads of government, Cabinet-level positions, military generals/admirals, members of legislative bodies with significant involvement in, or related to, the U.S.- Iraq conflict.

Involvement:
  • University Lecturer, International Law, Cambridge University
  • Deputy Director, Lauterpacht Centre for International Law, Cambridge University
  • Academic Secretary of the Faculty

Education: B.A., LL.B. (Sydney), LL.M., Ph.D. (Cantab)

Affiliations/
Honors:
  • none listed

Contact Info:
Phone: (01223) 335358 Fax: (01223) 300406
E-Mail:   rmo20@cam.ac.uk
Web Site: http://www.law.cam.ac.uk/staff/view_staff.php?profile=rmo20

Other: Select Publications:
  • "Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory: A Commentary," RBDI, April 2005
  • "Decisions of British Courts During 2003 Involving Questions of Public International Law," British Yearbook of International Law, December 2004
  • "Recourse by the ad hoc Tribunals to general principles of law and to human rights law," in Delmas Marty, Fronza & Lambert-Abdelgawad (eds), Les Sources du Droit International Pénal (Paris: 2004) Nov 2004
  • "Universal Jurisdiction: Clarifying the Basic Concept," JICJ, September 2004
  • "World Cultural Heritage: Obligations to the International Community as a Whole?" ICLQ, January 2004
  • "Decision of British Courts During 2002 Involving Questions of Public International Law," BYIL, December 2003
  • "Customary International Crimes in English Courts," BYIL, December 2002
  • "The Admission to the United Nations of the Ex-Soviet and Ex-Yugoslav States," Baltic YIL, September 2002
  • "The European Convention on State Immunity and International Crimes," CYELS June 2000
  • "The meaning of 'Cultural Property' under the 1954 Hague Convention," NILR, March 1999
  • "The 'Right to Take Part in Cultural Life' under Article 15 of the ICESCR," ICLQ, October 1998
  • "Civil Actions in US Courts in Respect of Human Rights Abuses Committed Abroad: Would the World's Oppressors Be Wise to Stay at Home?" RADIC, March 1997
  • "Palm-Fringed Benefits: Island Dependencies in the New Law of the Sea," ICLQ, April 1996
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