Latest Iraq War Inquiry Bombshell: Blair Lied to Public over Legality of Invasion
Tony Blair lied blatantly to the British public in April 2005 when he told the BBC that the Attorney General had advised him the war was legal — when in fact, the Attorney General had advised him in writing that the war was illegal.
The written memo from the then Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, has now been unearthed and handed in to the Chilcot Inquiry into the war and will form a major part of the former Prime Minister’s cross questioning in the new year.
In April 2005, Mr Blair was asked on the BBC by Jeremy Paxman if he had seen confidential Foreign Office advice that the Iraq war was illegal.
Mr Blair replied: “No. I had the Attorney General’s advice to guide me.”
In reality, Lord Goldsmith had submitted a memo to 10 Downing Street in July 2002, explicitly warning Mr Blair that invading Iraq was a blatant breach of international law.
The memo was written eight months before the combined British and American invasion which not only killed hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians, but also thousands of Allied soldiers.
In the letter, Lord Goldsmith responded to a cabinet meeting of 23 July 2002 at which he had been present where attendees were told in confidence that the invasion of Iraq was going to proceed.
After the meeting, Lord Goldsmith wrote to Mr Blair on a headed notepaper, addressed to “Dear Tony,” and signed “Yours, Peter.”
In the letter, Lord Goldsmith said:
- The war could not be justified purely on the grounds of “regime change.”
- The United Nations’ rules on military intervention “on the basis of self-defence” did not apply because Britain was not under threat from Iraq.
- The United Nations’ rules on intervention on “humanitarian” grounds were not applicable to Iraq.
- It was not possible to rely on earlier UN resolutions in the 1990s approving the use of force against Saddam.
Once Mr Blair saw the letter, be barred Lord Goldsmith from attending any further cabinet meetings and ordered a cover-up to stop news of the letter leaking out.
According to Lord Goldsmith, he offered to resign but was bullied by Mr Blair into backing down.
Lord Goldsmith is set to appear before the Chilcot Inquiry and will, according to reports, defend his memo.
This evidence will clinch the case for Mr Blair’s prosecution for war crimes, as the British National Party has long maintained should occur.
Apart from Mr Blair, all the other politicians, civil servants and Tory toady generals who participated in this international outrage should also be arrested and put on trial.
The blood of our soldiers who died in that needless conflict, and the blood of hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis, demands it.
