A Reminder: Iraq war was illegal and breached UN charter, says Annan

[PowerToThePeople]

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."

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/sep/16/iraq.iraq

[dipsydoodle]

1. Kick.

.

[on point]

2. and those people (Bush and cronies) that started it are war criminals...

[burnodo]

6. Bush and cronies and Democrats

This is, of course, why Democrats can't acknowledge that it was illegal, because they know they were complicit and would be subject to the criminal penalties.

[on point]

7. Your right I forgot the dems that went along, like Hillary

[PowerToThePeople]

3. I post this in regards to Manning.

He released information pertaining to an

ILLEGAL WAR OF AGGRESSION Waged by the United States of America

The hypocrisy involved with charging him with a crime is amazing to me.

[Hydra]

17. Not when you look at it as:

"It's not illegal when the President does it"

That's the message to Bradley Manning and other whistleblowers: STFU and do what you are told. We make the rules.

[indepat]

4. The American reply to Annan: illegal, smillegal. America has a war president, this fearless leader

is the decider, and with input from Cheney, Rumsfeld, Powell, Rice, Wolfowitz, and Feith, et al, junior will be the sole decider in all matters of state and international affairs.

[kenny blankenship]

5. Nonsense!

For if it were true, or even arguably true, that the war in Iraq waged by the US against Iraq was illegal, then by definition it would be an act of mass murder. Consequently it would become the solemn legal duty of the government of the United States, cognizant of its treaty obligations, and as the only government with the practical ability to do so, to bring those responsible for this sea of bloodshed to trial in an impartial, preferably international, court of justice. This is an allegation of MASS MURDER, not some trifle of improperly processed mortgage papers, stolen money, or secrets leaked to a newspaper. Crimes like this cannot go unpunished, or the existence of the law itself must be doubted.

Despite the seriousness of the allegation no such action has been taken by the US government. And none is currently proposed. There has not even been a formal review of the war policy as one might expect to see if there had been even doubts about its propriety or about the legal behavior of its leading figures. No "bipartisan blue ribbon commission" was ever announced to "get to the bottom of this mess". The war is not even controversial. It is regretted perhaps by some, or even by many. But no one cries Murder! Robbery! Rape and Murder!

Since it is abundantly clear and accepted by all camps of legitimate opinion that there is no principle more important to the United States in its domestic and foreign affairs than the rule of law, it must be clear that no infraction of the law ever took place. Else it would have been investigated and punished by now, as Bradley Manning is now being punished, and it would be pursued to the ends of the Earth, as Edward Snowden is now being pursued. Yet the perpetrators of this alleged crime travel about the United States freely with no apparent fear of being stopped by the police. Mr. Annan is simply making things up.

May I remind you that we have not only a lawyer as our President, but a scholar of the Constitution? He understands as well anyone who ever lived that treaty law has the same force as the Constitution, superseding any laws of states or acts of Congress. He has signed a number of such treaties himself and is proposing another one (still in the negotiation phase) that will likewise relieve our lawmakers of the burden of writing laws of the sort that the people would approve. If there had been any hanky panky going on with regard to that little war in Iraq, our President would have made sure any wrongdoing would be found out and punished! I would refer you again to the example of Bradley Manning. Why, our President is so zealous for the rule of law, that he could not even wait for the trial of Pfc. Manning to start before he pronounced him guilty before the cameras and microphones of the media. Do you think a stickler for propriety like President Obama would let a MASS MURDERER walk free? When people are innocent, as President Obama declared the banks to be in the matter of the mortgage derivatives meltdown, he is NOT AFRAID to say so, even when the vast majority of the electorate disagrees! He would be guided only by his sense of right and wrong, and by his superior knowledge of the law. No, there was no crime in Iraq. None at all.

[PowerToThePeople]

8. Fantastic response. Thank you very much.

I fear America will never rid itself of the injustice it has done to the World. How can we ever talk about justice in any way while this still hangs over us?

[OnyxCollie]

9. Bravo! nt

[leftstreet]

10. +1

Nicely done

[raouldukelives]

11. It all makes perfect sense to me now! nt

[KoKo]

12. gut wrenching...

Tell It! The consequences will be with us for a long time.

[Martin Eden]

13. Sense!

Complicity!

[Bonobo]

16. In fact, it probably saved lives.

If we had been forced to drop 6 nukes on Iraq instead of a friendly occupation, think of the loss of lives not to mention property.

[Hydra]

18. Oh, that's going to leave a mark...

+1000

[Martin Eden]

14. POEM for a WAR CRIMINAL

When GW Bush left office unimpeached and free, I wrote this poem for what I would like to say to him face-to-face:


I’d tell you to go fuck yourself
But that is much too kind
Because if you could perform that feat
You’d take pleasure in your behind

I’d like to say eat shit and die
But you deserve much more
You should suffer all the grief and pain
Of your misbegotten war

Though I can never make you feel
Or think, or understand
I’ll take solace when you hear your name
Cursed throughout the land

From inside a lonely prison cell
Dark and bare and cold
Where every day you pay for your crimes
Till you’re sick, heartbroken, and old

And when you finally leave the earth
You fucked over oh so well
If there is a God and afterlife
You’re going straight to hell.

[wildbilln864]

15. k & r. eom

[spanone]

19. if democrats had invaded another nation illegally, they would be in chains.

you bet.

the investigations would have never ended.

[jasond54231]

20. Annan is a very wise man. He was right from the beginning.

It's a pity no one in Washington bothered to listen to reason at that time.