>No case for Iraq attack say lawyers
>
>Michael White and Patrick Wintour Friday March 7, 2003 The Guardian
>
>Tony Blair last night faced fresh pressure to abandon the threat of war
>against Iraq when 16 eminent academic lawyers warned him that the White
>House doctrine of "pre-emptive self-defence" has no justification under
>international law.
>
>Not only do all the UN security council's existing resolutions on Iraq -
>including 1441 passed unanimously in November to enforce disarmament on
>Saddam Hussein - fail to provide such authority, there are currently no
>grounds for passing a new one to give the "clearly expressed assent" to a
>war that Mr Blair still seeks, the lawyers declare.
>
>In a letter sent to Downing Street and published in today's Guardian, the
>signatories - specialists who include James Crawford, Whewell Professor of
>International Law at Cambridge, and Vaughan Lowe, Chichele Professor at
>Oxford - also take a sideswipe at the prime minister for saying that he
>and President Bush would ignore an "unreasonable veto" in the security council.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,909201,00.html