Kofi Annan

says the Iraq war was illegal, because of the lack of a 2nd resolution (in a BBC interview, also reported by France Inter, 16 Sep).

Update (17 Sep) : the whole interview is to be broadcast Sunday on the BBC World Service. Of course, the 'it is illegal' had to be dragged out of Annan by the interviewer, but predictably that phrase has been seized upon - front page of  Le Monde's website yesterday. On France Inter's opinion piece Geopolitique this morning, speculation by Bernard Guetta about the timing : since the US policy in Iraq is a failure, Guetta claims, Annan is seeking to emphasize the UN's distance from it.

NYT had this : U_N_ Chief Ignites Firestorm by Calling Iraq

Update (23 Sep) - minor : grammatical or spelling