[Torie]

I wonder what the legal consequences will be if the US defies the embargo. I don't care about the political ones, since the motives of those that will use their veto to keep the sanctions in place are so transparent and revolting. To tell them "nuts" would do a body good.

[CurlyDave]

I wonder what the legal consequences will be if the US defies the embargo.

I don't think there are any enforcable legal consequences.

First, we have a powerful argument that the sanctions were imposed against the previous regiem. They are no longer in effect, Iraq is a different country than a month ago. We just go ahead and start shipping oil.

Secondly, the UN couldn't keep Iraq from cheating on the embargo. Which country would be willing to stop a tanker bound for the US? The UN has no navy of its own.

Big advantage--we again get to demonstrate that the UN is irrelevant.