Thu, 26 Feb 2004
"The defence believes that the advice given by the Foreign Office Legal Adviser expressed serious doubts about the legality (in international law) of committing British troops in the absence of a second [UN] resolution."
I suspect this may be the beginning of the end for Tony Blair.
Former cabinet minister Clare Short has gone on the record as
saying MI5
bugged UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in the run-up to
the Iraq war. There's some serious jeopardy here; in doing so,
Short technically violated the Official Secrets Act, which
means she could do serious prison time -- if anyone in the
Home Office has the guts to bring charges against her. In the
wake of Katherine Gun being let off the hook, this looks
highly unlikely -- Gun's defense strategy appears to have
the government terrified.
The Guardian is reporting that a key plank in that defense
strategy was evidence that the
Foreign Office believed the war was illegal (in the
absence of a second UN resolution, which never
happened, if you remember).
Key fact to bear in mind: the UK hasn't opted out of the
jurisdiction of the International
Criminal Court.
UPDATE: This story happened to break the same day as
the Prime Minister's scheduled weekly press conference. It
makes for bitterly
amusing reading. Blair seems to be a little bit
off-balance; can't think why ...
[Discuss politics]
posted at: 17:46 | path: /wartime | permanent link to this entry
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