Soon: Gov’t to demand Iraq out of UN Charter’s Chapter VII

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: The Iraqi government is currently studying a request that it may soon submit to the United Nations to remove the country from under Chapter VII of the UN Charter. “The government is studying the content of a request that it will submit to the Security Council this month, calling to end the international mandate over Iraq,” read a statement released by the National Center for Media and received by IraqiNews.com, quoting an under-secretary of state for foreign affairs, Mohammed al-Hajj Mahmoud, as saying. “The five permanent members and the 10 non-permanent members of the Security Council have been informed of the matter,” the statement added. UN Security Council Resolution 678 was the legal authorization for the Gulf War, which was passed on 29 November 1990. It gave Iraq an opportunity to withdraw from Kuwait by 15 January 1991 and authorized UN member states in cooperation with the government of Kuwait to use “all necessary means to uphold and implement” Chapter VII of the UN Charter, which authorizes the use of force to restore peace. Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter sets forth the powers of the UN Security Council to maintain peace. It allows the council to “determine the existence of any threat to the peace, breach of the peace, or act of aggression” and to take military and non-military action to “restore international peace and security.” SS (S) 1