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Friday, Apr 29, 2005

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International

Tony Blair was told invasion of Iraq could be illegal

Richard Norton-Taylor

Attorney-General spelt out the dangers of going to war

LEGAL CONCERNS: Detenus with their faces covered sit under guard in a U.S. army truck near Hawija, 240 km north of Baghdad, Iraq, on Wednesday. — PHOTO: AP

LONDON: Tony Blair was told by the British government's most senior law officer in a confidential minute less than two weeks before the invasion of Iraq in 2003 that British participation in the American-led invasion could be declared illegal.

In a legal opinion Mr. Blair has repeatedly refused to publish and never seen by the Cabinet, Lord Goldsmith, the U.K. Attorney-General, spelled out the dangers of going to war, including the prospect of Britain losing a case in an international court.

He warned that while he could argue a ``reasonable case'' in favour of military action, he was not confident a court would agree. Indeed a court ``might well conclude'' that a new U.N. resolution was needed before military action could be undertaken.

In the minute the Attorney-General warned the Prime minister that Britain might be able to argue it could go to war on the basis of past U.N. resolutions, but only if there were ``strong factual grounds'' that Iraq was still in breach of its disarmament obligations.

Breach of code

Lord Goldsmith's 13-page minute was sent to Mr. Blair on March 7, 2003. On that day, Hans Blix, the chief U.N. weapons inspector, declared that Iraq had made ``substantial'' process in destroying its long-range missiles and that he had found no evidence of biological or chemical weapons.

The fact that Lord Goldsmith's legal opinion was never seen by the British Cabinet is an apparent breach of the official code covering ministerial behaviour.

It is in stark contrast to the parliamentary answer issued by Lord Goldsmith 10 days later, on March 17, which was shown to the Cabinet. In his answer, which contained none of the earlier caveats, he said it was ``plain'' that Iraq was in breach of its U.N. disarmament obligations. Lord Goldsmith on Wednesday night said he stood by his opinion that it was legal for Britain to go to war in Iraq.

The assertion in the parliamentary answer was made after days of frantic activity, with Lord Boyce, the chief of U.K. defence staff, demanding an unequivocal opinion that an invasion was lawful.

Lord Goldsmith asked Downing Street for Mr. Blair's view. No. 10 [Mr. Blair's residence] replied that it was ``indeed, the Prime Minister's unequivocal view'' that Iraq was still in breach. According to the (U.K.'s) Butler report into the use of intelligence in the run-up to war, British Ministers failed to ask intelligence agencies to look again at their assessments of Iraq's weapons programme despite the U.N. inspectors' failure to find any.

In his minute, Lord Goldsmith revealed that his predecessors had advised that the legality of British bombing of Iraq in Operation Desert Fox in 1998, and of Kosovo the following year, was ``no more than reasonably arguable.''

Pointed warning

In a pointed warning to Mr. Blair, he added: ``But a `reasonable case' does not mean that if the matter ever came before a court I would be confident that the court would agree with the view.'' A court ``might well conclude'', Lord Goldsmith said, that the wording of resolution 1441 required a second resolution to trigger military action.

A ``counter view'' could be reasonably maintained, Lord Goldsmith said.

- Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004

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