LONDON, April 28: With a general election just a week away and his integrity on the line, British Prime Minister Tony Blair bowed to pressure on Thursday and made public the full text of the secret advice he got on the legality of the Iraq invasion. His decision — a day after the 13-page minute from Attorney General Lord Peter Goldsmith was leaked to the media – represented a dramatic U-turn, after he steadfastly refused for months to make it public.
“You have probably got it all anyway. I see no reason not to publish it,” Mr Blair told reporters, before Downing Street published the full text on its website (www.number-10.gov.uk).
During a press conference in London that was supposed to focus on Labour’s policy on business, Mr Blair said he had no regrets about taking Britain into the Iraq invasion.
“Let’s be frank about this,” he said. “The key thing was, was the attorney general advising it was lawful to proceed? This smoking gun has turned out to be a damp squib, because he did advise it was lawful to proceed.”
In the March 7, 2003, memo, stamped “secret”, Mr Goldsmith seemed to doubt whether Iraq could legitimately be attacked without one final UN resolution ordering Saddam Hussein to fully cooperate with UN inspectors and abandon his suspected development of weapons of mass destruction.
“In these circumstances, I remain of the opinion that the safest legal course would be to secure the adoption of a further resolution to authorize the use of force,” Mr Goldsmith wrote.
He went on to say that it would be “surprising” if there was no legal challenge from opponents of the invasion. He added: “We cannot be certain that they would not succeed.”
Ten days later, however, Mr Goldsmith told parliament that an invasion without a final UN resolution would be legal under international law.
Mr Goldsmith’s apparent flip-flop led opposition leaders to wonder if Mr Blair had put pressure on him to justify the invasion, just as it was alleged that the intelligence services were told to “sex up” the case for attacking Iraq.
“Mr Blair had said the legal advice had not changed,” said Conservative leader Michael Howard, who has taken to calling the prime minister a liar. “We now know beyond doubt that it had changed.”—AFP
LONDON, April 28: With a general election just a week away and his integrity on the line, British Prime Minister Tony Blair bowed to pressure on Thursday and made public the full text of the secret advice he got on the legality of the Iraq invasion. His decision — a day after the 13-page minute from Attorney General Lord Peter Goldsmith was leaked to the media – represented a dramatic U-turn, after he steadfastly refused for months to make it public.