the paralysing effect of respect for international law

Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd instructed Parliament that Article 51 [of the UN Charter] entitles a state to use force 'in self-defence against threats to one's nationals'. He was speaking in support of Clinton's 'justified and proportionate exercise of the right of self-defence' when he launched missiles against Iraq, on grounds that Iraqis might - or might not - have been involved in a failed assassination attempt against an ex-President two months earlier. There would be a 'dangerous state of paralysis' in the world, Hurd continued, if the US were required to gain Security Council approval before undertaking such actions.