This paper reviews the part played by the United Nations in Iraq fromthe invasion of Kuwait in 1990 to the war of March 2003. To that end,the article examines the process that led to the approval of resolution1441 (passed on November 8, 2002) which allowed the coalition madeup by the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Poland tostart the bombings on Iraq on March 20, 2003. Since the invasion ofKuwait in the summer of 1990, the UN Security Council has passedmore than a dozen resolutions that compel Iraq to act in accordancewith the purposes of the Charter.This article contrasts the principles of the prohibition on the use offorce and the obligation of reaching peaceful settlement of controversiesagainst the resource of “legitimate preventive defense” formulatedby the Bush administration.