“All Members shall settle their international disputes by peaceful means in such a manner that international peace and security, and justice, are not endangered. All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations…. The parties to any dispute, the continuance of which is likely to endanger the maintenance of international peace and security, shall, first of all, seek a solution by negotiation, enquiry, mediation, conciliation, arbitration, judicial settlement, resort to regional agencies or arrangements, or other peaceful means of their own choice.”
— UN Charter (Chapter I, Article 2 and Chapter VI, Article 33)
[See: www.un.org/aboutun/charter]

“We must make clear to the Germans that the wrong for which their fallen leaders are on trial is not that they lost the war, but that they started it. And we must not allow ourselves to be drawn into a trial of the causes of the war, for our position is that no grievances or policies will justify resort to aggressive war. It is utterly renounced and condemned as an instrument of policy.”
— Supreme Court Justice Robert L. Jackson, U.S. Representative to the International Conference on Military Trials, August 12, 1945
[See: www.lcnp.org/global/IraqLetter.htm]

MICHAEL RATNER
President of the Center for Constitutional Rights, Ratner said today: “The U.S. government is already violating the U.N. Charter by its threatened use of force and current bombing of Iraq. Bush is going the ‘last mile’ with diplomacy — the last mile to coerce other members and get a fig leaf for war.” Ratner has written about the “Uniting for Peace” resolution (337) which allows the General Assembly to call an emergency session when the Security Council is split on how to maintain international peace and security.
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MARJORIE COHN
A professor of law at Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego, Cohn is executive vice president of the National Lawyers Guild. She has also written about the “Uniting for Peace” resolution.
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BILL FLETCHER
President of TransAfrica Forum, Fletcher is available to assess the situation at the U.N., particularly the positions of the African nations currently on the Security Council: Guinea, Cameroon and Angola.
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ROBERTO RODRIGUEZ
Co-author of the syndicated “Column of the Americas,” Rodriguez said today: “The U.S. government is not continuing to push out of moral reasons… Rather, it is bribing and blackmailing countries at the United Nations.”
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ANITA WEISS
Co-editor of Power and Civil Society in Pakistan and professor of international studies at the University of Oregon, Weiss is available to assess the position of Pakistan on the Security Council.

HENRY ROSEMONT
A leading scholar on China, Rosemont is author of several books and is currently visiting distinguished professor at Trinity University in Texas.

For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167