It was, at one time, quite normal to denounce the ?Communists? for their disregard of international law and treaty obligations. Now, however, many Americans tend to scoff at such matters as irrelevant, unrealistic. Suddenly, the Constitution and the system of treaties to which we have committed ourselves?the United Nations Charter in particular?have become ?outmoded,? inappropriate to the complexities of current history, which require a powerful executive, free to react with overwhelming military force to real or alleged ?emergencies? and ?attacks??such as the alleged Tonkin Bay attack. In the world-dominant power, this disregard for the formalities must cause very great concern. Randolph Bourne once warned of the intellectuals who ?tell us that our war of all wars is stainless and thrillingly achieving for good?; we have a right to become even more alarmed when they tell us (not in so many words, to be sure, but by the policies they advocate) that our national self-interest requires that we tear to shreds the delicate fabric of international law and disregard our treaty commitments and constitutional processes. Granting the inadequacies and frequent injustice of international law and the institutions set up to give it substance, there is still much truth in the conclusion of the Lawyers Committee on American Policy in Vietnam: ?…the tragedy in Vietnam reveals that the rules of law, when so flagrantly disregarded, have a way of reasserting the calm wisdom underlying their creation. If international law had been followed, both Vietnam and the American people would have been spared what [UN] Secretary General U Thant has described as ?one of the most barbarous wars in history.??
It was, at one time, quite normal to denounce the ?Communists? for their disregard of international l…
Noam Chomsky (born on December 7, 1928, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historical essayist, social critic, and political activist. Sometimes called "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky is also a major figure in analytic philosophy and one of the founders of the field of cognitive science. He is a Laureate Professor of Linguistics at the University of Arizona and an Institute Professor Emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and is the author of more than 150 books. He has written and lectured widely on linguistics, philosophy, intellectual history, contemporary issues, and particularly international affairs and U.S. foreign policy. Chomsky has been a writer for Z projects since their earliest inception, and is a tireless supporter of our operations.