A U.S. War on Iraq Violates U.N. Charter 'Uniting for peace' resolution may be last option to stop conflict

Interview with Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights conducted by Between the Lines' Scott Harris

Echoing the script of an old Western, President Bush issued an ultimatum to Saddam Hussein in a March 17th television address -- that if he and his sons do not leave Iraq within 48 hours, war would be the inevitable result. The Iraqi leader's immediate rejection of Washington's demands set the stage for a war that an overwhelming majority of the world's people and governments oppose.

President Bush's failure to win Security Council backing for a resolution authorizing war against Baghdad represented a stinging rejection of the White House argument that Saddam Hussein's regime posed an imminent threat to the U.S. and the world. United Nations' Secretary-General Kofi Annan underscored widespread hostility to the Bush position when he said on March 10th, "If the U.S. and others were to go outside the (Security) Council and take military action, it would not be in conformity with the (U.N.) Charter...the legitimacy and support for any such action will be seriously impaired."

With war all but certain, two groups, the Center for Constitutional Rights and Greenpeace called on the U.N. General Assembly to hold an emergency session and adopt the little-known "Uniting for Peace" resolution #377 to declare a U.S.-British war without Security Council authorization as illegal and a crime against peace. Between The Lines' Scott Harris spoke with Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights, who explains the "Uniting for Peace" option and the damage that he fears will be done to the system of international law by a unilateral U.S. war on Iraq.

Contact the Center for Constitutional Rights at (212) 614-6464 or visit the group's Web site at www.ccr-ny.org

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