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WOULD WAR BE LEGAL?
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Read and listen to Today's hearing into the legality of any military strike on Iraq.
With the collapse of attempts by the 'coalition of the willing' to gain a further UN Security Council resolution expressly authorising military action against Iraq, lingering questions over the legality of any strike without a further mandate became all the more important.
President Bush has always maintained further 'permission' from the UN was never needed and his country has always had the right to protect itself using whatever means it sees fit.
After weeks of calls to publish official legal guidance from the British Attorney General, Prime Minister Tony Blair broke with tradition to release the document. It advises that military action (under the auspices of previous Security Council resolutions) WOULD be legal under international law.
You can read the text of the Attorney General's statement, along with other relevant documents, in Today's Iraq 'Document Library', available on our 'Focus On Iraq' homepage.
Prior to these developments (on Thursday December 19, 2002), the Today programme held a trial - style hearing to investigate in some detail whether such action would be legal and the arguments involved
We brought together three prominent international lawyers to argue the case against such a strike, and the case for it, and to judge the issue under the relevant law. The event was staged at one of the Inns of Court, the Inner Temple in central London, in front of a small invited audience who were invited to make their own contributions following the legal arguments. The judgment was reserved until broadcast on Today the following Saturday, December 21st.
You can listen back to the proceedings in their entirety by clicking on the link on the right hand side of the page. Click on the following titles to read more about the the hypothetical scenario the debate was based on, the declaration sought from the 'court', the background of the participants, the arguments put forward by either side and the decision of the judge.
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The Hypothetical Scenario
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The Declaration Sought
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"The consequences of a material breach of Iraq's disarmament obligations are for the UN Security Council alone to determine..."
"The UK can take, or assist in, military action against Iraq ..."
