5 |
Advice on the legal basis for military action, November 2002 to
March 2003
97.
On 9
December, after receipt of the Iraqi declaration, the FCO issued a
formal
request
seeking Lord Goldsmith’s advice on whether a further decision by
the
Security
Council would be required before force could be used to secure
Iraq’s
compliance
with its disarmament obligations.
98.
Mr Wood
set out the “two broad views” on the interpretation of
resolution
1441 and
whether a further decision was required by the Security Council
to
authorise
the use of force.
99.
Mr Straw
asked Mr Wood to make clear to Lord Goldsmith that his advice
was
not needed
“now”.
100.
Several drafts
of the instructions for Lord Goldsmith were prepared and
circulated
within the
FCO.
101.
Mr Wood
sought the views of senior FCO officials on 21 November, including
Sir
Michael Jay
and Mr Iain Macleod, the Legal Counsellor in the UK Permanent
Mission to
the UN in
New York (UKMIS New York). He also wrote that he planned to give
Mr Straw
the
opportunity to comment on the draft the following
week.24
102.
Ms Cathy
Adams, Legal Counsellor to Lord Goldsmith between 2002 and
2005,
informed
Lord Goldsmith on 29 November that the letter from Mr Wood had
“been in
gestation
for a couple of weeks now and I understand the original draft has
been subject
to
extensive comments from UKMIS New York”.25
103.
Mr Stephen
Pattison, Head of FCO UN Department, told the Inquiry that all
those
people
involved in Mr Ricketts’ core group saw the draft
instructions, but very few
officials
commented from a sense that it was for the lawyers to sort out, and
that officials
should not
give the impression of interfering.26
104.
Sir Michael
Wood told the Inquiry:
“… I
received extensive comments from UKMIS New York, conveyed to me by
Iain
Macleod and
as I understood it, reflecting Sir Jeremy Greenstock’s views.
These
essentially
concerned the alternative arguments to which they attached
importance,
based in
part on the negotiating history of the resolution. As I recall, I
incorporated
all or
virtually all of UKMIS’s suggestions into my letter …
“I do not
recall receiving comments on the draft from other
quarters.”27
24
Minute Wood
to Ricketts, 21 November 2002, ‘Iraq: SCR 1441: Letter to
LSLO’.
25
Minute
Adams to Attorney General, 29 November 2002, ‘Iraq’.
26
Public
hearing, 31 January 2011, pages 48-49.
27
Statement,
15 March 2011, page 19.
21