Mallat was opposed to the US-led invasion,[8] and sought with the support of then US Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz an alternative Security Council Resolution that would have declared Saddam Hussein's presidency illegitimate and advocated the deployment of human rights monitors in Iraq during the transition to democracy.[9] He visited Iraq in late 2003 and early 2004 to accelerate the recognition of the Iraqi Governing Council as the official government of Iraq, a move opposed by Paul Bremer and Kofi Annan.[10] In 2005, he declined the Iraqi government's invitation to head the tribunal that eventually tried Saddam Hussein. In 2008-10, Mallat was senior legal advisor to the Global Justice Project: Iraq, which he initiated with Hiram Chodosh, the dean of the law school at the University of Utah.