Smoke and flames appear in the sky over Baghdad following an explosion, Thursday, March 20, 2003. (AP Photo/APTN) ** TV OUT **

On the morning of March 20, United States and allied forces attacked Iraq, initiating a war that has been anticipated for several months. As the war continues, the Crimes of War Project will provide extensive coverage, monitoring the actions of all sides and highlighting the issues of international humanitarian law that arise. Our aim is to provide frequent updates, authoritative analysis, and to direct our readers to the most relevant resources about a conflict that is likely to raise a series of complex and troubling legal questions.

The war pits the overwhelming power of the United States, together with its British and Australian allies, against a leader who has already in previous conflicts committed actions that stand out as severe violations of international humanitarian law. In the past, Saddam Hussein has used chemical weapons against his own civilians and opposing soldiers, and launched campaigns of persecution against the Kurds and Shi’ites that rise to the level of crimes against humanity. Opposing him, the United States has assembled an array of military firepower that is intended to stun and overwhelm Iraq’s leadership and destroy their will to fight. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has said the attack will be of “a force and scope and scale beyond what has been seen before.”

Among the legal issues that can be expected to arise are the following:

• Legitimate targets. Both sides are obliged by the laws of war to confine their attacks to objects that make “an effective contribution to military action” and whose destruction will not cause harm to civilians that is “excessive in relation to the anticipated concrete and direct military advantage” of the attack.
  
  
• Use of chemical and biological weapons. These are outlawed by a series of conventions and as part of customary international humanitarian law.
  
  
• Distinguishing between civilians and combatants. There may be fighting in urban areas, which will place an onus on both sides to avoid unnecessary harm to civilians. Iraqi civilians are heavily armed and could attempt to take part in the fighting – on either side. Under international humanitarian law, civilians have the right to rise up in the face of an invasion of their country, but if they do so, invading troops are able to fire against them.
  
  
• Environmental destruction as a weapon of war. There have been suggestions that Saddam Hussein will attempt to blow up Iraq’s oil wells to slow down US troops or to prevent them falling into US control. Under the law, it is forbidden to take actions which will cause “widespread, long-term and severe damage to the environment.”
  
  
• Indiscriminate weapons. It is forbidden to use weapons that cannot be directed at specific military objectives, or whose effects are likely to cause disproportionate harm to civilians. Under some circumstances, some experts believe the use of cluster bombs or depleted uranium munitions falls into this category.
  
  
• Duties of an occupying power. If the United States occupies part or all of Iraq, it is obliged under the Geneva Conventions to allow proper access for humanitarian relief of the population.

The Crimes of War Project will post detailed analyses of these and other issues as they come up during the course of fighting. In addition, we welcome contributions from our readers about any legal issues that may arise. Please send reader responses or submissions to our web editor, Anthony Dworkin, at [email protected].