ABSTRACT
Professor Richard Bilder has done an admirable job of articulating the pros and cons of judicial process. One might, of course, believe that if Saddam Hussein had been a wise leader, he would have understood that judicial procedures would have been a convenient way to escape the imbroglio in which he entangled himself. In view of the new political situation in the international community in general and in the Security Council in particular, there may be new opportunities for adopting recommendations to submit cases involving use of force to international judicial settlement. The Gulf of Sidra incident obviously involved the policy of force, presented as a technical dispute over maritime spaces. The characteristics of the international legal system are important. This is a system which has started to incorporate some innovative notions, like the notion of jus cogens and the concept of crimes of states.
