Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2005
Abstract
This article's point of departure is the US's war against Iraq, which was begun in 2003 under various rationales - political, legal, and moral. As the legal and political justifications fell away or were cast into question, the moral became the primary reason for going to war. The justifications were, however, construed in religious language. For many, this "return" of religion within US foreign policy seemed particular to the Bush Administration. Others have argued that the turn to religion in time of war is nothing new. Nevertheless, the war and its justifications made me wonder about the nature of public discourse at both the national and international levels, and why religious language stands out, especially when it is resorted either to escape or, as in the recent war, to repudiate the legal or political authority.
Recommended Citation
Tawia Baidoe Ansah,
A Terrible Purity: International Law, Morality, Religion, Exclusion
, 38 Cornell Int'l L.J. 9
(2005).
Available at: https://ecollections.law.fiu.edu/faculty_publications/104
