http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,6-1584733,00.html<snip>
Does anyone care whether the Iraq war was legal? This week the Opposition tacticians have replied yes. When the party in the lead litters the campaign trail with unexploded ordnance, they cannot resist exploding it.
The latest revelation that the Attorney-General did tell Tony Blair that the war was illegal was not new - though being a lawyer he said that it "might" not be legal. The Hutton inquiry last year was shown that opinion, but being the Hutton inquiry felt it not significant. After conversing with various people in Washington and Downing Street, the Attorney is said to have "changed his mind". When a lawyer says something that was illegal one minute is legal ten days later with his boss desperate for war, who are ordinary mortals to question his independence? We just ask him to pull the other one with bells on it.
What is new is that the Mail on Sunday reported the six reasons given by the Attorney on March 7, 2003, as to why he thought the war might be illegal and they are devastating. They included that any war based on UN resolutions was for the UN to declare; that using the celebrated resolution 1441 would not pass muster in an international court; that an existing authority was in place for weapons inspection; and that the inspection was still under way. That was the Attorney's considered, 13-page view. The fact that the prime minister had a blood bond with the US president, who did not care a fig for legality, was not mentioned as a possible defence.
Ten days later he changed his mind to what Mr Blair called "unequivocal" support for the war. The reasons have never been given, nor have the relevant documents both before and after this change. We therefore have to assume either that something secret but dramatic happened in those fervent days, or that someone is lying about these documents. With previous convictions on that score, Mr Blair is guilty until proved innocent. He lied, with varying degrees of self-consciousness, over his stated reason for an early intervention, a threat of imminent massive attack from Iraq.
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