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Britain claims 'sufficient authority' to attack Iraq

Britain feels it has "sufficient legal authority" to go to war with the United States against Iraq without a new UN resolution…

Tue Mar 04 2003 - 00:00

Britain feels it has "sufficient legal authority" to go to war with the United States against Iraq without a new UN resolution, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw claimed today.

Speaking before talks with Russian counterpart Mr Igor Ivanov, Mr Straw told MPs that Britain would "much prefer" a US-led attack on Iraq to be backed up by a fresh UN Security Council resolution.

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We've had to reserve our options if such a second resolution does not prove possible
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British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw

But he added that as far as London was concerned, last November's UN Resolution 1441 and others adopted before it were good enough under international law for the United States and Britain to act militarily.

"We are satisfied that we have sufficient legal authority in 1441, back to the originating resolution 660 [in August 1990] and so on, to justify military action against Iraq if they are in further material breach" of UN demands to disarm, he said.

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"We would much prefer, if military action proved necessary, for it to be backed by a second resolution, and that is what we are actively seeking," he said.

"We've had to reserve our options if such a second resolution does not prove possible."

Britain, the United States and Spain tabled a draft resolution before the UN Security Council in New York last week that would, in effect, green-light a war on Iraq, and it could be adopted by mid-March.

But France, a veto-wielding council member, has warned it would oppose such a resolution, arguing more time needs to be given to UN arms inspectors deployed under Resolution 1441.

Russia also opposes holding a vote on the draft resolution, a position repeated today by deputy foreign minister Mr Yury Fedotov who said it would be "unfounded and unjustified" at the present time.

The United States said today it has ordered another 60,000 troops, including tank divisions from Germany and Texas, to join a massive US-British military build-up in the Gulf.

The units would join more than 250,000 US and British troops already poised in the region along with dozens of warships and nearly 600 strike aircraft for a possible attack on Iraq that could be launched within weeks.

AFP &