Iraq and the Crimes of Aggressive War: The Legal Cynicism of Criminal Militarism

Cambridge Studies in Law and Society

by John Hagan, Joshua Kaiser, Anna Hanson

From the torture of detainees at Abu Ghraib to unnecessary military attacks on civilians, this book is an account of the violations of international criminal law committed during the United States invasion of Iraq. Taking stock of the entire war, it uniquely documents the overestimation of the successes and underestimation of the failings of the Surge and Awakening policies. The authors show how an initial cynical framing of the American war led to the creation of a new Shia-dominated Iraq state, which in turn provoked powerful feelings of legal cynicism among Iraqis, especially the Sunni. The predictable result was a resilient Sunni insurgency that reemerged in the violent aftermath of the 2011 withdrawal. Examining more than a decade of evidence, this book makes a powerful case that the American war in Iraq constituted a criminal war of aggression.

260 pages, Paperback

First published June 4, 2015

About the author

John L. Hagan (born 1946) is an American sociologist focusing on criminology.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_L....


Also publishes as John L. Hagan

Reviews

[Anand Gopal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Useful new research on Iraq, based on a series of surveys administered at various points during the past 12 years. The book demonstrates that Sunnis developed "legal cynicism"in response to increased exposure to occupation-led violence, which framed their interpretations of post-2003 state-led norms. The book is a bit repetitive but nonetheless valuable for its empirical data and quantitative approach.

[Rohit · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book does an excellent job of analyzing the US invasion and occupation of Iraq, and the descent of Iraq into insurgency and civil war, through existing frameworks in the field of criminology and with original, social-scientific research and empirical data. It presents a stark and uncompromising picture of just how deeply unpopular the US occupation was.

The book draws on existing research around how populations and institutions engage in "legal cynicism", where public institutions (particularly security institutions) are not seen as legitimate, and uses this framework to examine how US policies and actions fueled legal cynicism in the country. The original research by the book's authors includes an analysis of how Iraqi judges were influenced by US policies around torture, the dynamics and processes of ethnic cleansing in Baghdad, and the evolving perceptions of ordinary Iraqis over time with regards to US military forces, the Iraqi government, etc. All of this is coupled with engaging narratives around the history of the Ba'ath Party, the internal dynamics of the Mahdi Army and other Shia militant groups, the way "elite bargains" drove the formation of the new, sectarian Iraqi state, and more.

All in all, this is a compelling book that combines concise but engaging narratives, solid, empirical social-scientific data, and existing criminology scholarship.