source: UPI, White House briefing, March 13; BBC, RFE/RE, March 14]

At yesterday's White House briefing, spokesman Ari
Fleischer was asked about the legality of military action against
Iraq if the US-UK-Spanish resolution were defeated in the UN
Security Council. Obviously prepared for the question, Fleischer
read from a prepared statement, which claimed that the use of
force is authorized by a number of earlier UN Security Council
resolutions, such as #678, #660, and #687, dating from the first Gulf War.

This may be related to the fact that a number of
commentaries and articles have appeared during the past week --
including one on German television -- warning that an attack on
Iraq carried out without UN Security Council authorization would
be in violation of the UN Charter and international law, and that
President Bush and Defense Secretary Rumsfeld could eventually
find themselves charged with war crimes before the
newly-inaugurated International Criminal Court (ICC).

While the ICC is itself an abomination, the United States is
legally bound by the Charter of the United Nations, to which it is a signatory.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said earlier this week, that
a U.S. attack on Iraq without UN authorization would be in
violation of the UN Charter. Article 2 of the Charter forbids
member states "from the threat or use of force against the
territorial integrity or political independence of any state."

The Charter states that force may only be used in imminent
self-defense, or with specific approval of the Security Council.

Even legal commentators who agree with the idea of attacking
Iraq, say that the Bush Administration hurt itself by seeking,
but failing to obtain, UN Security Council approval for the use
of force -- since there now can be no doubt that the Security
Council would not approve it.

Additionally launching aggressive war
is a violation of the Charter of the Nuremburg Tribunal, to which
the United States is bound as a signatory, and which principles
were formally adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1950.