It's worth reflecting on what may well turn out to be a momentous day at the Chilcott inquiry.
Setting the tone for Tony Blair's Friday appearance,it appears that after yesterday's revelations,both he and his ministers went to war in Iraq despite repeated warnings from senior Government advisers that they had “no leg to stand on” legally.
Foreign office lawyers appeared adamant that that going to war without a United Nations mandate would be a “crime of aggression” and during the proceedings secret letter was declassified showing that ed that the then-foreign secretary,Jack Straw, told his chief legal adviser that he was being “dogmatic” by warning that war would be illegal.
As Nigel Morris writes in the Independent this morning,"Mr Blair and Mr Straw abandoned law for politics..."
Whilst Elizabeth Wilmshurst's evidence simply revealing utter contempt for international law within Blair's government.
Today sees former attorney general Lord Goldsnmith giving evidence and he will almost certainly have to explain why he choose to ignore all the legal advice thrown at him.
As Wilshurst said yesterday,"it was clear that the Attorney-General was not going to stand in the way of the Government.”
No comments:
Post a Comment