In late 2002 an increasingly heated debate arose within the United Nations Security Council about the merits of using force to disarm and depose Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq. The Bush Administration gave the Council an ultimatum: uphold the rule of international law, expressed in numerous Council resolutions calling on the regime to disarm, or follow the League of Nations into the dustbin of history. If the Council would not license the use of force, the United States would lead a ‘Coalition of the Willing’ to defend the rule of law and protect international security
