Mullahs Without Mercy: Human Rights and Nuclear Weapons

Mullahs Without Mercy: Human Rights and Nuclear Weapons

Geoffrey Robertson

Vintage Australia / Random House

2012

$34.95

400 pages

ISBN: 9781742758213

Review by Jim Green

Mullahs Without Mercy can be read as a primer for what Robertson anticipates will be the first war of 2013, to be initiated by Israeli attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities.

While deeply alarmed at the prospect of Iran's leaders possessing nuclear weapons, Robertson argues that it would be illegal under international law for Israel to attempt to destroy nuclear facilities believed to be involved in weapons production. Such attacks, he believes, would likely kill many more people than the 11 who died when Israel destroyed a 'research reactor' under construction in Iraq in 1981.

Should Iran develop nuclear weapons, Robertson doesn't envisage them being used: "The Mullahs are at least as rational as a gang of serial killers and are well aware that Israel itself has 200 nukes, some on submarines stooging the eastern Mediterranean, which would be shot at Tehran in immediate reprisal for any attack."

He argues that the "real danger of Iran's acquisition of nuclear weapons is that the ruling Mullahs will be invincible and proliferation will follow throughout the Middle East".

Some of his claims might be a bit speculative: "Saudi Arabia is already negotiating ''off the peg'' atom bombs from Pakistan and the Muslim Brotherhood has long had a policy to obtain nuclear weapons for Egypt." Nevertheless there is clearly a major problem unfolding in the Middle East − the US State Department has warned of the possibility of a nuclear arms race in the Middle East and noted that a number of states in the region "are already thinking about developing or acquiring nuclear technology useful for development of nuclear weaponry."

Robertson proposes that nations make the acquisition of nuclear weapons a crime against humanity by amending the Treaty of the International Criminal Court at its review conference in 2016. He writes: "That would entitle the Security Council to authorise an attack on Iran or any other country outside the nine that already possess nuclear weapons to stop it from assembling a bomb. But this will have to be accompanied by a binding agreement between the nuclear-armed states gradually to reduce the number of nukes in their arsenals to zero and by the establishment of a powerful UN inspection agency to replace the toothless International Atomic Energy Agency, which cannot inspect suspicious facilities, in Iran or elsewhere, without the permission of the suspect state."

The book has attracted some criticism, mainly because of the heavy emphasis on international law. A review in progressonline.org.uk states: "Despite the intriguing arguments and anecdotes, Robertson's plan remains unpersuasive. He spends little time on the political implications of disarmament for nuclear power. Given the complexity of the Trident debate in the UK, the assumption that nuclear states will simply give up their weapons freely feels a little far-fetched. The book fails to give international efforts on Iran a fair hearing, and assumes diplomacy is doomed to fail."

Another reviewer states: "As a fellow former (if rather less august!) lawyer, I have noticed a tendency amongst legal types to assume that legal architecture is in some sense "real", that it is solid. The reality is that international law in particular is contested and rather surreal. ... Mr Robertson seems to be using the arcane paraphenalia of his profession to give his subjective political opinions a cloak of objective solidity. Quite improper really."

Perhaps Robertson gives too much emphasis to international law, and understates the problem that international laws banning nuclear weapons won't be adopted or enforced in the absence of a sustained heave from the global citizenry. Nevertheless it would still be welcome if Robertson and like-minded lawyers pursue such initiatives.

A good chunk of the book can be read online for free at www.tiny.cc/iozoqw (click the orange 'Free Sample' button).