International law question

[galen]

Because the Bush Administration has made it clear that its intentions to attack Iraq, has prepositioned equipment and held maneuvers and conducted a diplomatic offensive to shore up support for the attack; is Iraq now justified under international law launch a preemptive attack?

[starfish]

Yes, but Iraq doesn't have the power to win. An attack by Iraq would only cause them to lose sooner.

The US position is that it has been attacked and is now defending itself. This is hard for most countries to believe. An attack by Iraq would help the US, not hurt it.