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.