Reply #1: Yes, UN Charter [View All]

[wtmusic]

Article IV of the Constitution states that "all Treaties made...under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land."

The purpose of the UN, as stated in its Charter (1945): "to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war". It is a treaty signed by 7 representatives of the US and requires that "All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state."

Article 51 specifies that "Nothing in the present Charter shall impair the inherent right of individual or collective self-defence if an armed attack occurs against a Member of the United Nations."

The key phrase is if an armed attack occurs. Thus the US has no legal right to attack Iraq--unless Iraq attacks it, or an ally, first. This is a fundamental moral precept, the origins of which go back 400 years to the Treaty at Westphalia.