5 |
Advice on the legal basis for military action, November 2002 to
March 2003
receive
this request for advice and that finally came at some stage in
December.
Until that
had arrived, I couldn’t actually start to form a definitive view
anyway.”7
39.
The letter of
instructions for Lord Goldsmith was not sent until 9 December and
did
not include
the point of view of Mr Michael Wood, the Foreign and
Commonwealth Office
(FCO) Legal
Adviser.
40.
Mr Straw
told Cabinet on 14 November that, while the Security
Council
would need
to be reconvened to discuss any breach in the event of
Iraqi
non‑compliance,
the key aspect of resolution 1441 was that military action
could
be taken
without a further resolution.
41.
That
statement reflected the position Mr Straw had taken in his
discussion
with Lord
Goldsmith on 12 November, but it did not fully reflect the
advice
Mr Straw
had been given by the Mr Wood on 6 November or the
concerns
Lord Goldsmith
had expressed on 12 November.
42.
The advice
given by Mr Wood is described in Section 3.5.
43.
In the
discussion of Iraq and the adoption of resolution 1441 in Cabinet
on
14 November,
Mr Straw stated that a “key aspect of the resolution was that
there was
no
requirement for a second resolution before action was taken against
Iraq in the event
of its
non-compliance, although reconvening the Security Council to
discuss any breach
44.
Lord Goldsmith
was not present at that Cabinet meeting.
45.
Concerns
about the differences between the UK and the US on what
would
constitute
a material breach, the US stance of “zero tolerance” and the debate
in
the US on
“triggers” for military action were already emerging.
46.
Mr Blair
and Mr Straw, and their most senior officials, were clearly
aware that
difficult
and controversial questions had yet to be resolved in relation
to:
•
what would
constitute a further material breach and how and by whom
that
would be
determined;
•
the issue
of whether a further resolution would be needed to
authorise
force;
and
•
the
implications of a veto.
7
Public
hearing, 27 January 2010, pages 55-56.
8
Cabinet
Conclusions, 14 November 2002.
11