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[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 141 Introduced in House (IH)]

108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 141

                 Disavowing the doctrine of preemption.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 12, 2003

  Ms. Lee (for herself, Mr. Conyers, Mr. McDermott, Ms. Waters, Mrs. 
Jones of Ohio, Ms. Woolsey, Mr. Serrano, Mr. Filner, Ms. Jackson-Lee of 
 Texas, Mr. Kucinich, Ms. Watson, Mr. George Miller of California, Mr. 
Stark, Mr. Payne, Mr. Owens, and Mr. Jackson of Illinois) submitted the 
     following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on 
                        International Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION

 
                 Disavowing the doctrine of preemption.

Whereas President Bush has declared in a variety of documents and fora that the 
        United States has the right to unilaterally exercise military action, 
        including preemptive nuclear strikes, against nations that have not 
        attacked the United States, creating what has been termed the ``doctrine 
        of preemption'';
Whereas the doctrine of preemption contemplates initiating warfare against a 
        nation that might not pose an imminent threat of harm to the United 
        States and far exceeds the commonly understood view, set out in the 
        Charter of the United Nations and recognized in international and United 
        States law, that nations enjoy the right of self-defense, and that such 
        self-defense might include undertaking military action to prevent an 
        imminent attack;
Whereas the doctrine of preemption represents a radical departure from the 
        official position of the United States since the adoption of the Charter 
        of the United Nations;
Whereas the doctrine of preemption threatens to set a dangerous precedent that 
        might then be cited by other countries, including other nuclear powers, 
        to justify preemptive military action against perceived threats;
Whereas United States policy has long recognized the value to our national 
        security of advancing the respect for and adherence to the international 
        rule of law;
Whereas actions that diminish the international consensus on normative legal 
        behavior and leave open the prospect that nations will readily resort to 
        military force outside of those normative boundaries increase 
        international instability and undercut the national security interests 
        of the United States;
Whereas the doctrine of preemption contradicts the Charter of the United Nations 
        to which the United States is a signatory, which, as a result of its 
        ratification by the United States, is incorporated into United States 
        law, and which reads, in part, ``All members shall refrain in their 
        international relations from the threat or use of force against the 
        territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any 
        other manner inconsistent with the purposes of the United Nations'' 
        (Article 2, section 4);
Whereas the Charter of the United Nations, while disallowing preventive war, 
        does not preclude military actions of self-defense, reading in part, 
        ``Nothing in the present Charter shall impair the inherent right of 
        individual or collective self-defense if an armed attack occurs against 
        a Member of the United Nations, until the Security Council has taken the 
        measures necessary to maintain international peace and security'' 
        (Article 51); and
Whereas under the United States Constitution, the President, as Commander in 
        Chief, possesses the authority to use military force to protect the 
        United States from attack or imminent attack: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That--
            (1) it is the sense of the House of Representatives that 
        the United States possesses the inherent right to defend itself 
        against imminent or actual attack, as codified in the Charter 
        of the United Nations and embodied in the traditions of 
        international law, but that right does not extend to 
        undertaking military action in the absence of such an imminent 
        or actual attack; and
            (2) the House of Representatives disavows the doctrine of 
        preemption because it poses a threat to international law and 
        to the national security interests of the United States.
            
                                 <all>
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