Australian Prime Minister John Howard on rejected on September 16 UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's criticism of the Iraq war as illegal, saying the Iraq war was "entirely valid."

Annan told British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) earlier that the invasion of Iraq "was not in conformity with the UN Charter" and was "illegal from the charter point of view."

Howard said he did not agree with Annan's comments.

"The legal advice that we had, and I tabled it at the time, was that the action was entirely valid in international law terms," Howard told local radio in Perth, capital of the state of Western Australia.

"That was a legal opinion we obtained from the relevant people in Australia. There had been a series of Security Council resolutions and the advice we had was that it was entirely legal," he said.

However, Australian Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Kevin Rudd welcomed Annan's comments, saying "we've always challenged the legality and lawfulness of the Iraq war."

"If you go to Iraq frankly it would have been wise to do what we argued at the time, which is to wait for the UN weapons inspections process be properly concluded before rushing to war," he said.

Australia is a staunch ally of the United States in the Iraq war and still keeps about 850 military personnel in the war-torn Middle East country. Howard has insisted that the Australian troops will only withdraw until the job is done.

Opposition Leader Mark Latham has promised to bring the Australian troops home by Christmas if the Labor Party wins the federal election scheduled for Oct. 9.

Japan expects clarification on Annan's remarks on Iraq war

Japan will try to confirm what UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan meant by reportedly saying that the US-led invasion of Iraq was an illegal act, Japanese top government spokesman Hiroyuki Hosoda said on September 16.

"We will confirm his real intentions through various references, " Hosoda, the chief Cabinet secretary, said at a press conference.

Annan said in an interview Wednesday that the invasion of Iraq was an illegal act that contravened the UN Charter, and the decision to take action in Iraq should have been made by the UN Security Council, not unilaterally.

Also, Annan feared elections planned for January in Iraq would not go ahead unless security was considerably improved, according to the report.

Iraq war was illegal: Annan

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said in an interview with British Broadcasting Corp. radio the US-led war on Iraq was illegal.

In the interview broadcast late on Wednesday, Annan said that UN Security Council resolutions had warned Iraq that there would be "consequences" if it did not comply with the demands from the Security Council.

However, Annan said it was up to the Security Council to decid what actions should be taken.

Asked if the war on Iraq was illegal, Annan said "Yes, if you wish."

"From our point of view and from the Charter point of view it was illegal," the UN chief added.

Source: Xinhua