[Peace-discuss] Kofi Annan acknowledges war was illegal

[ppatton at uiuc.edu]

Iraq War was Illegal and Breached UN Charter, Says Annan
by Ewen MacAskill and Julian Borger in Washington
 

The United Nations secretary general, Kofi Annan, declared 
explicitly for the first time last night that the US-led war 
on Iraq was illegal.

Mr Annan said that the invasion was not sanctioned by the UN 
security council or in accordance with the UN's founding 
charter. In an interview with the BBC World Service broadcast 
last night, he was asked outright if the war was illegal. He 
replied: "Yes, if you wish."

He then added unequivocally: "I have indicated it was not in 
conformity with the UN charter. From our point of view and 
from the charter point of view it was illegal."

Mr Annan has until now kept a tactful silence and his 
intervention at this point undermines the argument pushed by 
Tony Blair that the war was legitimized by security council 
resolutions.

Mr Annan also questioned whether it will be feasible on 
security grounds to go ahead with the first planned election 
in Iraq scheduled for January. "You cannot have credible 
elections if the security conditions continue as they are 
now," he said.

His remarks come amid a marked deterioration of the situation 
on the ground, an upsurge of violence that has claimed 200 
lives in four days and raised questions over the ability of 
the interim Iraqi government and the US-led coalition to 
maintain control over the country.

They also come as Mr Blair is trying to put the controversy 
over the war behind him in the run-up to the conference 
season, a new parliamentary term and next year's probable 
general election.

The UN chief had warned the US and its allies a week before 
the invasion in March 2003 that military action would violate 
the UN charter. But he has hitherto refrained from using the 
damning word "illegal".

Both Mr Blair and the foreign secretary, Jack Straw, claim 
that Saddam Hussein was in breach of security council 
resolution 1441 passed late in 2002, and of previous 
resolutions calling on him to give up weapons of mass 
destruction. France and other countries claimed these were 
insufficient.

No immediate comment was available from the White House late 
last night, but American officials have defended the war as 
an act of self-defense, allowed under the UN charter, in view 
of Saddam Hussein's supposed plans to build weapons of mass 
destruction.

However, last September, Mr Annan issued a stern critique of 
the notion of pre-emptive self-defense, saying it would lead 
to a breakdown in international order. Mr Annan last night 
said that there should have been a second UN resolution 
specifically authorizing war against Iraq. Mr Blair and Mr 
Straw tried to secure this second resolution early in 2003 in 
the run-up to the war but were unable to convince a skeptical 
security council.

Mr Annan said the security council had warned Iraq in 
resolution 1441 there would be "consequences" if it did not 
comply with its demands. But he said it should have been up 
to the council to determine what those consequences were.

© Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004