David P. Fidler, JD, MPhil Biography

"The U.S. position on its use of force against Iraq in March 2003 was partly based on updating the customary doctrine of anticipatory self-defense for the threat posed by state adversaries possessing or pursuing WMD. Even though the United States also defended military action against Iraq on the basis of upholding UN Security Council resolutions on Iraqi WMD disarmament, the war against Iraq revealed the United States’ desire to deploy a doctrine of preemptive self-defense that would deter states from pursuing WMD and provide the United States with a course of action if deterrence failed...

...[T]he still ongoing debate about the U.S. position on preemptive self-defense in connection with WMD threats and its impact on the international law on the use of force illustrates that policy and international legal thinking on WMD have moved beyond the arms control approach."