Leslie
03-06-2003, 08:38 PM
Marines May Have Broken International Law
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 9:03 p.m. ET
UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- U.N. peacekeepers recently spotted armed U.S. Marines around a fence between Kuwait and Iraq and believe the Marines cut through it, an act which was reported to the Security Council on Thursday as a possible violation of international law.
U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard said peacekeepers who monitor a demilitarized zone set up after the 1991 Persian Gulf War between Iraq and Kuwait reported ``numerous violations,'' since March 4 ``by personnel in civilian clothes in 4 x 4 vehicles, at least some of whom were armed and identified themselves as U.S. Marines.''
U.S. diplomats had no immediate comment on the matter.
According to Eckhard, peacekeepers observed three breaches that had been cut in an electric fence which Kuwait erected after a U.S.-led coalition forced Iraqi troops out of the country in 1991. The peacekeepers didn't see the Marines cut the fence but believe the Marines did so.
Eckhard went on to say that the U.N. team raised the recent violations with the Kuwaiti government. The information was then sent to the Security Council in the form of a letter from the U.N. peacekeeping department. Eckhard said the breach may violate the Security Council resolution that set up the zone but that it was up for the council to make that determination.
The United States has amassed more than 300,000 troops in the region in preparation for another possible war with Iraq. In the meantime, it is pushing council members to adopt a new resolution that would authorize military force, as it did in 1991.
NY Times 3/6/03
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 9:03 p.m. ET
UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- U.N. peacekeepers recently spotted armed U.S. Marines around a fence between Kuwait and Iraq and believe the Marines cut through it, an act which was reported to the Security Council on Thursday as a possible violation of international law.
U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard said peacekeepers who monitor a demilitarized zone set up after the 1991 Persian Gulf War between Iraq and Kuwait reported ``numerous violations,'' since March 4 ``by personnel in civilian clothes in 4 x 4 vehicles, at least some of whom were armed and identified themselves as U.S. Marines.''
U.S. diplomats had no immediate comment on the matter.
According to Eckhard, peacekeepers observed three breaches that had been cut in an electric fence which Kuwait erected after a U.S.-led coalition forced Iraqi troops out of the country in 1991. The peacekeepers didn't see the Marines cut the fence but believe the Marines did so.
Eckhard went on to say that the U.N. team raised the recent violations with the Kuwaiti government. The information was then sent to the Security Council in the form of a letter from the U.N. peacekeeping department. Eckhard said the breach may violate the Security Council resolution that set up the zone but that it was up for the council to make that determination.
The United States has amassed more than 300,000 troops in the region in preparation for another possible war with Iraq. In the meantime, it is pushing council members to adopt a new resolution that would authorize military force, as it did in 1991.
NY Times 3/6/03