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Interviews on Iraq: UN Endgame

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“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.” — UN Charter (Chapter I, Article 2) [See: www.un.org/aboutun/charter]

JAMES PAUL
Executive director of the Global Policy Forum, which monitors global policy-making at the United Nations, Paul said today: “We understand that a deal is being struck — after tremendous pressure and who-knows-what sweet deals…. There has apparently been delay in large measure because, according to a highly-placed source at the UN, ‘every word of text change had to go back to Washington and get argued over for two days.’ But even the hawks understand that public support for a war without a UN resolution is dropping and is low; only 27 percent in a recent Pew poll said they would support the war ‘if allies don’t go along’…. Many of the worst ‘trigger’ language is out, but plenty of material remains in the resolution that the U.S. government will claim allows war, make no mistake about that. Council members know this, but now they are running for cover.” [See: www.accuracy.org/un] More Information

MICHAEL RATNER
President of the Center for Constitutional Rights, Ratner said today: “What is going on here is completely outrageous. The Security Council, a body that was supposed to make war at the behest of one country illegal and impossible, is paving the way to a war of aggression. And worst of all, the U.S. will be able to argue that somehow it has its blessing.”
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FRANCIS BOYLE
Professor of international law at the University of Illinois College of Law, Boyle said today: “If the UN Security Council gives the Bush administration this legal fig-leaf for its pre-planned aggression against Iraq, the Security Council shall prove its own legal and moral bankruptcy….”

JOHN BURROUGHS
Burroughs is executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee on Nuclear Policy. “If the UN is strong-armed into authorizing this war, then it will be acting contrary to the basic values of the UN Charter…. The U.S. may well get a resolution which it claims authorizes war in the case of Iraqi non-compliance; the U.S. and other countries could agree to disagree. This would undermine the United Nations….” Burroughs and other lawyers have sent letters to the members of the Security Council, available at the above web page.
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For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; David Zupan, (541) 484-9167