Allies insist Iraq war legal

LONDON -- Britain, Australia, and a former US official, stung by criticism from UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, insisted yesterday that their countries' military action in Iraq was legal.

All three governments face elections in the near future and have had to grapple with varying degrees of public protest about their decision to wage war against Saddam Hussein.

Speaking to the BBC Wednesday, Annan said the US-led invasion of Iraq was illegal as it violated the UN Charter.

Asked whether he thought it broke international law, he said: ''Yes, if you wish. I have indicated it was not in conformity with the UN Charter from our point of view. . . . It was illegal."

The United Nations yesterday played down his statement that the US-led invasion had been illegal, saying Annan's position on the war had long been known.

''He feels it is no different from what he has been saying for more than a year, and that position is very well known to member governments," the UN chief spokesman, Fred Eckhard, said.

Not so, said Prime Minister John Howard of Australia, on the campaign trail ahead of an Oct. 9 election. ''The legal advice that we had, and I tabled it at the time, was that the action was entirely valid in international law terms," he told Australian radio.

Howard's view was echoed by Prime Minister Tony Blair's office, which said the British government's top lawyer -- Attorney General Lord Goldsmith -- had reached the same conclusion before the invasion was launched in March last year.

Randy Scheunemann, a former adviser to US Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, said of Annan: ''To do this 51 days before an American election reeks of political interference." Blair is expected to call an election in May next year.