18 May 2004: Staff Sgt. Kevin Jessen checks the underside of two anti-tank mines found in a village outside Ad Dujayl in the Sunni Triangle. by Pfc. Elizabeth Erste, Public Domain
The Chilcot report, when published next month, will surely criticise some of those responsible for launching the Iraq war and for the suffering and damage which it caused. Lawyers are certainly already mulling over the prospect of litigation. Will Chilcot find breaches of international law? Will it find evidence of criminal liability? If so, are prosecutions possible?
Before the beginning of hostilities in 2003 the legality of an invasion of Iraq was intensively considered and publicly debated. Attention focused on the position in international law which is premised on the prohibition in the United Nations Charter of the use of force save in two exceptional cases. One is self-defence. The other is where force is authorised by the Security Council.
