The Pros And Cons Of Military Intervention

Military Interventions like those in Ukraine, Iraq, Yemen and Syria is the invasion of another country’s army to suppress the chaos in a particular country. This is mostly executed without the consent of country invaded. The Republic of Austria is against military intervention and believes that it only adds to the damage caused by disruption of peace. A constitutional law passed in 1955 declared Austria’s “perpetual neutrality” and it is one of the six European countries that have declared this. Thus Austria became a member of the European Union but did not join the NATO, and did not support the Iraq intervention.

In December 2002, the member of the opposition green part of the Austrian government protested against the illegal violation of the Austrian airspace by the US air-crafts. The government declared to completely close Austrian airspace to the US air crafts. In response the Defense Minister of the time said that it had authorized 181 US flights to Iraq via Austria and said that there had been
In February 2003 denied permission for the transit of US troops via Austria to Italy. Austrian Minister of Defense Herbert Schiebner said that in the absence of a UN Security Council resolution, Austria would have to obey the neutrality provisions of the constitution and could not allow transit via Austria to the US forces. This ban delayed the US forces from getting to Italy for days. The Austrian president of the time, Thomas Klestil stated that “Austria’s neutrality compels the government to deny any transit to belligerent states”.

Austria was also asked to deploy nuclear, biological and chemical weapon countermeasures in the gulf region, but in January 2003 the Austrian National Security Council declared that, “no Austrian forces should participate in eventual military combat against Iraq”. After the war Austria sent financial and humanitarian aid to Iraq but it was not involved in any military