With military action in Iraq moving into its second week, the Security Council yesterday held its first debate on the situation since the start of invasion.At the request of the Arab League and the Non-Aligned Movement, the Security Council began an open meeting where some 70 countries are expected to take part.

There was great opposition to the U.S. led attack.

“The war against Iraq has been carried out without the authorization of the Security Council in violation of the principles of international law and the UN Charter,” said Datuk Rastam Mohamed Isa of Malaysia, the Chair of the Coordinating Bureau of the Non-Aligned Movement.

He said it was regrettable that the parties concerned chose to cast aside multilateral diplomacy to take the path of war while efforts to avert conflict were continuing

And we have learned that the U.S. have been pressuring nations within the General Assembly not to speak out against the war.

• Phyllis Bennis, fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington DC, specializing in Middle East and United Nations issues. She is the author of the book Before and After: U.S. Foreign Policy and the September 11th Crisis.

Related link:

• Institute for Policy Studies