3.5 |
Development of UK strategy and options, September to November 2002
–
the
negotiation of resolution 1441
“I have
spoken briefly to the Foreign Secretary, who assured me that the
Prime
Minister
understood that action could not be taken if the Attorney advised
that
it was unlawful
…
“The
Foreign Secretary saw no point in writing again to No.10. The …
record was
…
abbreviated … The Foreign Secretary had made clear to the Prime
Minister the
legal advice.
“I think it
is important, even if we do not write, that we ask David Manning to
draw
the Prime
Minister’s attention to your [Mr Ricketts’] minute of 2 [sic]
October.”200
618.
Mr Chaplin
sent Mr Wood’s minute of 17 October to Mr Straw’s Private
Secretary,
stating
that he and Mr Wood had discussed the minute and, given the
advice already
offered to
No.10, thought “it would be sufficient for you [the Private
Secretary] to remind
Sir David
Manning” of previous advice, saying that it was strongly endorsed
by FCO
Legal
Advisers and asking him to make that clear to the Prime
Minister.201
619.
A copy of
Mr Wood’s minute to Mr Chaplin of 17 October, with
Mr Chaplin’s
comments to
Mr Straw’s Private Secretary, is in the Attorney General’s
files, with
a
manuscript note stating that Mr Wood had “handed over” a copy
of his minute to
Mr Ricketts
to Mr David Brummell, Legal Secretary to the Law Officers, on
the evening
620.
On 18
October, Mr Wood sought Lord Goldsmith’s views on whether the
draft
resolution
could have the effect of reviving the authorisation to use
force.
621.
Mr Wood
wrote to Ms Adams with the most recent text of the draft resolution
on
Iraq on 18
October.203
He drew
attention to the key elements of the draft which were
“particularly
relevant to the issue of whether it could be regarded as
authorising the
use of
force” against Iraq. Mr Wood stated that, as the Attorney
General would be
aware, a
finding by the Council that Iraq was in material breach of its
obligations under
the
cease‑fire resolution 687, together with a warning that Iraq would
face serious
consequences
in the event of continued non‑compliance, “can have the effect of
reviving
the
authorisation to use force”. The draft, however, had to be “read as
a whole” and
other
paragraphs gave “a clear indication that further action would be
for the Council”.
Mr Wood’s
view was that: “Accordingly … this resolution cannot be read as
permitting
the revival
argument.”
200
Minute
(handwritten) Wood to Ricketts, 17 October 2002, ‘Iraq: UN Route’.
The reference to a minute
from
Mr Ricketts of 2 October is an error; that minute was written
on 3 October.
201
Manuscript
comment Chaplin on Minute Wood to Chaplin, 17 October 2002, ‘Prime
Minister’s Phone
Call with
Bush, 14 October’.
202
Manuscript
comment Brummell on Minute (handwritten) Wood to Ricketts, 17
October 2002, ‘Iraq:
UN Route’.
203
Letter Wood
to Adams, 18 October 2002, ‘Iraq: Latest Text’.
311