Under Article 2, Number 4 of the UN Charter, "All Members shall refrain... from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state."
The form the invasion took (beginning with a series of unprovoked missile and bomb attacks on residential Baghdad) also violated the Fourth Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War.
On that basis alone - leaving aside the other legal arguments - the invasion was illegal.
The US's legal justification rested upon Iraq's violation of several UN Resolutions. Yet the US attacked Iraq without UN approval, and against the wishes of the majority of member states.
The US can't have it both ways, and neither can you.
If international law is sufficiently robust and coherent enough to condemn countries like Iraq and provide the justification for attacking, invading and occupying them, then the argument cannot be used, in defence of such actions, that international law "isn't clear-cut".
The simple reality here - as I'm sure you know as well as the rest of us - is that the US invaded Iraq in order to seize control of the country's oil fields and establish a military base for the protection of "US interests" in the region (ie, Israel).
At the end of the day it doesn't really matter whether the invasion was legal or not. The fact is it was *wrong*, ill-conceived and disastrous for the people of Iraq.
Created By: Zak Martin