The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
“… the
second requirement that someone has to make a determination of
material
breach. In
1998 a determination had been made by the Security Council
in
resolution
1205, actually not that there was a material breach, but that there
was
a flagrant
violation. It sounds worse, actually it is not a legal term at all,
and so it
creates
confusion … in any event, there was a question whether … in 2002
[you
could],
rely upon the fact that, in 1998, the Security Council had said
that Iraq was
in flagrant
violation?
“My view
was … no, you couldn’t, because a lot had happened since then and
the
Security
Council might take a different view today.
“… you
couldn’t rely on 1205 in my judgement in 2002, and you would
therefore
need to
have at least a new determination by the Security Council … that
there was
498.
Lord Goldsmith
told the Inquiry that he had sent his minute of 30 July because
he
did not
want Mr Blair to be in any doubt that he could not agree with
President Bush to
use force
without going back to the United Nations:
“I wasn’t
asked for it. I don’t, frankly, think it was terribly welcome. I do
believe that
it may well
have been one of the contributing factors to the Prime Minister, to
his
great
credit, persuading President Bush that he must go down the United
Nations
499.
Mr Blair
acknowledged that Lord Goldsmith’s advice had had an
effect:
“… one of
the things that was most important in us going down the UN route
was
precisely
the legal advice we got.”197
“… what I
took from the advice … was that we needed a fresh resolution. I do
point
out that –
because this was why at a later stage, I became concerned as to
what the
legal
problem was, because, of course, we got a further
resolution.”198
501.
Asked whether
Lord Goldsmith’s advice had been unwelcome, Mr Blair
replied:
“It wasn’t
that it was not particularly welcome … I was dealing with what was
already
a difficult
situation, and now I became aware we had to take a whole new
dimension
195
Public
hearing, 27 January 2010, pages 21-22.
196
Public
hearing, 27 January 2010, page 23.
197
Public
hearing, 29 January 2010, page 143.
198
Public
hearing, 29 January 2010, pages 144-145.
199
Public
hearing, 29 January 2010, page 147.
86