An Illegal War...   A European newspaper, The Independent of March 21, 2003, on page 6 published an AP photograph.  It shows a member of the European Parliament with a sign stating in very clear terms that the US aggression against Iraq that was unleashed the day before amounts to nothing less than an illegal war.  The caption included notes that quite a few "members of the European Parliament" display[ed] [such] anti-war signs at a meeting in Brussels" the other day.  According to the correspondent of the London-based daily, Mary Dejevsky, the "fiercest" accusations "came from Europe. "President Jacques Chirac [...] said: 'France regrets this action, started without UN backing.' [...]" A large number of politicians and citizens of Europe concurred that a U.S. war against Iraq without UN approval amounts to a breach of international law, an illegal act of aggression which is liable to occupy the International Court in the Hague. In the past, the leadership of Japan and the German Reich had to face special courts in Tokyo and Nuremberg in order to face charges of planning a war of aggression. This set a precedent which American, British, French and other politicians at the time hoped would deter further militarist adventurism. The people of Europe (from Poland to Spain, from Denmark to Italy) who contradict their governments by widely supporting resistance against the war (70- 80 per cent against the war in most countries), today hope that the lesson of Nuremberg is not forgotten.                               back to URBAN DEMOCRACY, special issue, Spring 2003, CONTENTS