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Advice on the legal basis for military action, November 2002 to
March 2003
12.
Lord Goldsmith
told Mr Powell that, in the meantime, he would obtain and
consider
the
statements made by members of the Security Council when resolution
1441 was
adopted.
13.
Asked whether
he recollected Lord Goldsmith wishing to provide written advice
and
being
discouraged from doing so, Mr Powell told the
Inquiry:
“No, he
gave written advice – I don’t know if you would call it written
advice, he
expressed
his opinions …”
…
“On a
number of occasions before 1441 and after 1441, he set out his
views in
14.
Lord
Goldsmith told Mr Straw that the key question would be whether
Iraq’s
non-compliance
amounted to a material breach and who was to make that
determination.
15.
Lord
Goldsmith’s initial view was that, notwithstanding the
deliberate
ambiguity
in the language of resolution 1441, the question of whether or not
there
was a
serious breach was for the Security Council alone to
answer.
16.
Lord
Goldsmith suggested that it would be desirable for him to provide
advice
on the
position if, at some point in the future, Iraq “found itself” in
material breach
of
resolution 1441 but the Security Council had not adopted a further
resolution.
17.
Mr Straw
agreed that formal “instructions” should be prepared asking
for
Lord Goldsmith’s
advice.
18.
Mr Straw
telephoned Lord Goldsmith on 12 November, suggesting that
resolution
1441 “made
life easier” for the Government.3
19.
Lord Goldsmith
agreed that it was an excellent achievement but added that
he
would “need
to study the resolution, together with the report of the debate and
the
statements
made”.
20.
In relation to
“the possibility of Iraq finding itself in breach of resolution
1441 at some
future
stage” but without a second resolution, Lord Goldsmith reported
that he had told
Mr Powell
that he was “pessimistic as to whether there would be a sound legal
basis …
for the use
of force”. Mr Powell had suggested a meeting before Christmas
to discuss
the issues.
Lord Goldsmith “indicated” to Mr Straw that “he would propose
to give a
more
definitive view … at that stage”.
2
Public
hearing, 18 January 2010, pages 103-104.
3
Minute
Brummell, 12 November 2002, ‘Iraq: Note of telephone conversation
between the Foreign
Secretary
and the Attorney General’.
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