As the UN Security Council considers the new resolution on Iraq put forward by the Bush administration, the Institute for Public Accuracy has made available a detailed analysis of the proposed resolution. The assessments feature a number of legal and political analysts. The multifaceted critique is available at: www.accuracy.org/un

Among the points made by analysts who are available for interviews:

PHYLLIS BENNIS,
Fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies, Bennis is author of the new book Before and After: U.S. Foreign Policy and the September 11th Crisis. She said today: “The resolution seems to be an effort to ensure Iraq’s inability — regardless of intent — to comply with these very stringent terms…. If Washington gets its way in the Security Council, the resolution will require Iraq to accept unlimited numbers of UN military troops.”

RAHUL MAHAJAN
Author of the book The New Crusade: America’s War Against Terrorism, Mahajan said today: “The numerous provisions [of Article 7 of the resolution] add up to an attempt to provide for a military occupation without having to fight a war. Note especially the right to create ‘exclusion zones and/or ground and air transit corridors.'”

JAMES PAUL
Executive director of the Global Policy Forum, which monitors global policy-making at the United Nations, Paul is the author of a series of papers including “Iraq: The Struggle for Oil.” Paul said today: “The resolution contains thin legal cover for a U.S. unilateral war, so that Washington can claim authorization by the UN Security Council even if most Council members insist that a second resolution will be required. It also contains ‘booby traps’ that were in the earlier draft — language that would be unacceptable to Iraq and that would, even if accepted, lead to rapid provocation.”
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MICHAEL RATNER
Ratner is president of the Center for Constitutional Rights.

FRANCIS BOYLE
Boyle is professor of international law at the University of Illinois College of Law.

JIM JENNINGS
Jennings is president of Conscience International, an aid organization that has worked in Iraq.

JOHN QUIGLEY
Professor of international law at Ohio State University, Quigley said today: “The draft resolution says that any failure by Iraq to comply with this and prior resolutions ‘shall constitute further material breach of Iraq’s obligations.’ This language turns any, even trivial, failing by Iraq into ‘material breach.'”

For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167