THE BURNED OVER DISTRICT

And don't complain if you want to bomb an hour later. Now that we have been dropping high explosives on Syria as well as Iraq, it is time for the legal beagles to hunt up a legitimization for the attacks.

Senior Obama administration officials said on Tuesday that the airstrikes against the Islamic State — carried out in Syria without seeking the permission of the Syrian government or the United Nations Security Council — were legal because they were done in defense of Iraq.

International law generally prohibits using force on the sovereign territory of another country without its permission or without authorization from the United Nations, except as a matter of self-defense. American intelligence agencies have concluded that the Islamic State poses no immediate threat to the United States, though they believe that another militant group targeted in the strikes, Khorasan, does pose a threat.

But the senior administration officials said on Tuesday that Iraq had a valid right of self-defense against the Islamic State — also known as ISIS or ISIL — because the militant group was attacking Iraq from its havens in Syria, and the Syrian government had proved unable or unwilling to suppress that threat. Iraq asked the United States for assistance in defending itself, making the strikes legal, they said.

The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because the United States has not yet submitted a formal letter to the United Nations explaining its actions. That letter was expected to be submitted later on Tuesday, and The New York Times obtained draft language that was circulating at the White House.

“The government of Iraq has asked that the United States lead international efforts to strike ISIL sites and military strongholds in Syria in order to end the continuing attacks on Iraq, to protect Iraqi citizens, and ultimately to enable and arm Iraqi forces to perform their task of regaining control of the Iraqi borders,” the draft letter says.

The United States is also citing a Sept. 20 letter from Iraq’s minister of foreign affairs, Ibrahim al-Jafari, to the United Nations complaining that the Islamic State was attacking Iraq from its havens and explaining that it had requested the United States’ assistance in defending itself.

Iraq has “requested the United States of America to lead international efforts to strike ISIL sites and military strongholds, with our express consent,” the Iraqi letter said. “The aim of such strikes is to end the constant threat to Iraq, protect Iraq’s citizens and, ultimately, arm Iraqi forces and enable them to regain control of Iraq’s borders.”

It is all so simple, Iraq has asked us to bomb IS for it. IS controlled territory includes what was formerly Syria, but as Syria has lost control of that territory, it is kosher to bomb it in defense of Iraq. Got it? Don't think too hard about it, just remember that we are the US of A. We can bomb any damn country we choose, as long as they don't have nukes.