LONDON (AFP) – The government's chief legal advisor informed then British prime minister Tony Blair in 2002 that deposing Saddam Hussein would contravene international law, a newspaper reported on Sunday.
Peter Goldsmith, the Attorney General at the time, wrote to Blair eight months before the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, but the premier ignored the advice, the Mail on Sunday claimed.
The newspaper said a public inquiry into Britain's involvement in the war was in possession of Goldsmith's letter and he and Blair are likely to be questioned about it when they give evidence next year.
The inquiry heard in its first week that Britain's ambassador to the United Nations at the time, Jeremy Greenstock, believed the invasion was "of questionable legitimacy".
Read on.
Update: Smoking letter revealed Blair's lie.
Daily Mail:
The Mail on Sunday can disclose that Attorney General Lord Goldsmith wrote the letter to Mr Blair in July 2002 - a full eight months before the war - telling him that deposing Saddam Hussein was a blatant breach of international law.
Here is the timeline of the Diary of Deceit:
2002
April 6: Blair meets Bush at Crawford, Texas. They secretly agree 'regime change' war against Iraq.
July 23: Blair tells secret Cabinet meeting of war plan. Goldsmith is asked to check legal position.
July 24: Blair tells MPs: 'We have not got to the stage of military action...or point of decision.'
July 29: Goldsmith secretly writes to Blair to tell him war is illegal.
July 30: No10 rebukes Goldsmith. He is excluded from most War Cabinet meetings.
November 8: UN urges Saddam to disarm, but stops short of backing war.
2003
March 7: Despite duress from No10, Goldsmith tells Blair war could be unlawful.
March 13: Goldsmith is allegedly 'pinned against wall' by Blair cronies Charlie Falconer and Sally Morgan.
March 17: UN rules out backing war.
March 17: Goldsmith U-turn. In carefully worded brief 'summary', he says war is lawful.
March 20: War begins.
2005
April 21: Jeremy Paxman asks Blair if he saw Foreign Office advice saying war was illegal. Blair says: 'No. I had Lord Goldsmith's advice to guide me.'
April 24: Mail on Sunday reveals Goldsmith told Blair two weeks before war that it could be illegal.
2009
November 24: Chilcot Iraq War Inquiry begins.
Today: Mail on Sunday reveals Goldsmith's 'smoking gun' letter to Blair in July 2002.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1231746/Secret-letter-reveal-new-Blair-war-lies.html#ixzz0YHlJMxM9
1 comment:
Now I know why Obama resign as Senator after he won the election. Obama has been working with the Foreign Leaders before he took office because Bush refused to give him Classified Information. Obama knew that America was to corrupt to put Bush/Cheney on Trial as there are still corrupt Judges, Lawyers and Law Makers in office who be make sure the Mob got off. Obama is wise as can be so he with the help of friends are giving all the evidence publicly so the United Nations will have no choice but to have a War Crime Trial against Bush, Cheney and Blair. Look for Bush to blame Cheney as he was given Executive Powers and of course Blair will siing like a girl.
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