8.9C Direct Military Intervention
Direct military intervention is increasingly part of a 'war on terror', which is partially justified as promoting rights of minority communities, but is compromised by the use of torture by combatant states that have signed the Declaration of Human Rights.
The phrase 'war on terror' was first used in 2001 by US President George W. Bush, shortly after the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York. The phrase means a war against Islamic Extremism and the groups that support it, including:
- Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and Arabia
- The Taliban in Afghanistan
- Boko Haram in Nigeria
- Islamic State in Syria and Iraq
- Al-Shabaab in Somalia
These groups have committed atrocities in their own countries, and claimed responsibility for numerous terrorist attacks in Western countries, such as the 2015 attack on the Bataclan Theatre in Paris and the 2017 attack on Westminister Bridge in London.
Western countries, led by the USA, but often involving the UK, France and others, have justified direct military intervention in a number of countries because of the war on terror, including:
- drone strikes in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen, Somalia and elsewhere
- the 2003 invasion of Iraq
- conflict in Afghanistan from 2001 and continuing as of 2018
- air strikes and special forces operations in Syria and Iraq, against IS
There have also been US-led operations in the Philippines, Mali and elsewhere in Africa. In 2014, Western countries used airstrikes, food-drops and military support for Kurdish forces to attempt to prevent the massacre of the Yazidi ethno-religious minority group by ISIS in Sinjar, Iraq. To some extent, French military intervention in Mali since 2013 has been to protect minority groups such as the Malian Sufis from Islamic extremists.
The War on Terror raises several difficult questions related to the UN UDHR.
- To what extent do people in Muslim countries want their human rights protected by Western countries?
- In 1990, 48 Muslim countries signed the Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam. The CDHRI is a response to criticism that the UDHR fails to take account of the Islamic perspective on human rights or the role of Sharia Law. In other words, justification for intervention based on the UDHR may have limited support in some Muslim countries.
- To what extent are the actions of Western countries undermine by their own attitude towards the UDHR?
- The USA has been accused of using torture at secret CIA 'black sites' around the world, and both US and UK forces were accused of illegal use of torture during the 2003 Iraqi war. Many Western countries have patchy records on human rights protection for their indigenous groups.
- To what extent does the War on Terror risk a permanent cultural divide?
- The War on Terror may risk demonising all Muslims, not just Islamists, and therefore create mistrust within Western countries (many of which have large Muslim minorities) and between Western and Muslim countries.