Legal Aspects of 2003 War in Iraq
It is a well-known fact that the USA and the United Kingdom (supported by a number of states) invaded Iraq in the beginning of this year. Prior to the invasion the UN Security Council could not agree on a resolution regulating the issue how to handle the situation in Iraq, primarily caused by the issue of whether Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction. Politically the invasion damaged the relations both between EU members opposing the war (in particular France and Germany) and those supporting it and between the opposing states and the USA. The invasion gives rise to a number of issues where a distinction may be drawn between the legality and the legitimacy of the war. This paper looks into the legal aspects while considering previous UN Security Council resolutions on the issue of Iraq, including the Gulf War, and other parts of public international law.
