Citation

Joyner CC. Terrorism 1990; 13(2): 79-87.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1990)

DOI

10.1080/10576109008435818

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The fire in Libya's Rabta chemical factor in March 1990 may have been an accident, a hoax perpetrated by the Qaddafi government, or an act of foreign sabotage designed to set back Libya's development of chemical weapons. International law does not generally condone the use of force against another state except in self‐defense. Given the Libyan government's support for terrorist groups, its anti‐Western ideology, and its incipient production of poison gas, the Rabta factory might be perceived as a genuine threat by Western governments. A case for necessity can therefore be made to justify sabotage of the Rabta factora as "anticipatory" or preemptive self‐defiiese. If indeed the fire was sabotage, it was carried out with premeditated proportionality and minimum loss of life. Caution must still be exercised to prevent anticipatory self‐defense from being abused as a legal license by governments to intervene at will into the internal affairs of other states. At the end of the day, responsibility for preventing proliferation of chemical weapons lies with Western governments, who must impose more stringent restrictions banning sale and export of that production technology abroad. International law provides regulations for state conduct in foreign relations, but the law does not enforce itself. It remains for national governments to uphold those rules.

Language: en