World News 16-09-2004 Iraq War Illegal, Says UN Chief who: UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan what: Says Iraq war was illegal when: Yesterday snippet: "Tony Blair last night suffered a fresh blow after Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary General, said the war in Iraq was `illegal`," reports The Independent. "Speaking on the BBC World Service, Mr Annan said the war was `not in conformity` with the UN Security Council or with the UN Charter." "He also said the planned elections could not be held in Iraq next January if the unrest continued," reports The Telegraph. "You cannot have credible elections if the security conditions continue as they are now," he says. The UK Foreign Office responded by saying the attorney-general, Lord Goldsmith, had made the "legal basis... clear at the time". "Both Mr Blair and the foreign secretary, Jack Straw, claim that Saddam Hussein was in breach of security council resolution 1441, passed late in 2002, and of previous resolutions calling on him to give up weapons of mass destruction," explains The Guardian. "France and other countries claimed these were insufficient." [... more]

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