U.N. chief also says January vote in doubt

"From our point of view and the [U.N.] charter point of view, it was illegal," U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan said, referring to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

UNITED NATIONS - The United States, Britain and Australia on Thursday rejected a claim by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan that the war in Iraq was “illegal” because Washington and its coalition partners never got Security Council backing for the invasion.

“Our view is there was a legal basis (for the war) ... that was a view shared by our coalition partners," a State Department official told NBC News.

“Regardless of what you think about the past, our focus is on the future,” the official said on condition of anonymity.

"Prime Minister Tony Blair’s official spokesman reminded reporters that Britain’s attorney general, Lord Goldsmith, had found before the war that Britain was acting legally, citing three U.N. resolutions he said justified the use of force against the Saddam Hussein regime."

One has to wonder why the US wanted that vote from the Security Council authorizing war.

Arf