Iraq action 'crime of aggression'

[Briar]

Iraq action 'crime of aggression'

The Iraq war amounted to a "crime of aggression", the former deputy legal adviser to the Foreign Office has said. Elizabeth Wilmshurst makes the claim in a letter of resignation, obtained by the BBC News Website.

But part of the letter has not been released. A report on Channel 4 claims this shows the attorney general changed his mind on the legality of the war. ....


According to Channel 4, in the missing piece Ms Wilmshurst says: "My views accord with the advice that has been given consistently in this Office (the foreign office legal team office) before and after the adoption of UN security council resolution 1441 and with what the Attorney General gave us to understand was his view prior to his letter of 7 March. (The view expressed in that letter has of course changed again into what is now the official line.)"

The significance of the missing paragraph is that it appears to show a late change of mind by the attorney general.

....

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4377469.stm

[keymaker]

1. Change of mind

... the missing paragraph... appears to show a late change of mind by the attorney general.

He appeared to change his mind from a correct view of the law to an incorrect one. The correct view expressed in a 13 page advice dated 7th March 2003 has been witheld from public disclosure so we need to see that now and have some explanation about why he changed his mind.

His incorrect view was given in a one-page parliamentary answer dated 17th March 2003 so on any basis there were 10 days when the government had advice that the war would be illegal and yet said nothing. The fact that the decision to go to war had already been made, i.e in April 2002, is not a reason for suppressing public debate about it's legality.

Of course, putting pressure on the Attorney General to change his mind doesn't alter international law. It just makes a mockery of the government and alters his professional standing if he gives in to it - which is why he is now being investigated by the Bar Council for professional misconduct :-).

keymaker