6.2 |
Military planning for the invasion, January to March
2003
•
Mr Hoon and
Mr Straw were telling Mr Blair that the US could act as early
as
that
weekend, and “some of our forces would have to be in
before”.194
586.
Mr Hemming
wrote to Mr David Brummell, the Legal Secretary to the Law
Officers,
on 12 March
stating:
“It is
clear that legal controversy will undoubtedly surround the
announcement of
any
decision by the Government to proceed to military action in the
absence of the
adoption of
a further resolution by the UN Security Council. The CDS is
naturally
concerned
to be assured that his order to commit UK Armed Forces to the
conflict
in such
circumstances would be a lawful order by him. I have informed the
CDS that
if the
Attorney General has advised that he is satisfied that the proposed
military
action by
the UK would be in accordance with national and international law,
he
[CDS] can
properly give his order committing UK forces.
“In view of
the rapidly developing situation, I thought that the Attorney would
wish to
know what I
have said on this question.”195
587.
Lord Goldsmith
and Mr Brummell agreed that:
•
It would be
proper for Mr Brummell to confirm to Mr Hemming that the
proposed
military
action would be in accordance with national and international
law.
•
“[It] would
be necessary to prepare a statement setting out the Attorney’s
view
of the
legal position which could be deployed at Cabinet and in Parliament
the
588.
Mr Brummell
wrote to Mr Hemming on 14 March to “confirm” that Lord
Goldsmith
was
“satisfied that the proposed military action by the UK would be in
accordance with
national
and international law”.197
589.
Copies of the
letter were sent to the Private Offices of Mr Hoon, Adm Boyce
and
Sir Kevin
Tebbit, as well as to Mr Bowen and Ms Juliet Wheldon, the Treasury
Solicitor.
590.
Lord Boyce
told the Inquiry:
“… the
propriety and/or the legality of what we were about to do was
obviously a
concern of
mine, not least of it, since, somewhat against my better instincts,
we had
signed up
to the ICC [International Criminal Court]. I always made it
perfectly clear
to the
Prime Minister face-to-face, and, indeed, to the Cabinet, that if
we were invited
194
Campbell A
& Hagerty B. The
Alastair Campbell Diaries. Volume 4. The Burden of Power:
Countdown
to
Iraq. Hutchinson,
2012.
195
Letter
Hemming to Brummell, 12 March 2003, ‘Iraq – Position of the
CDS’.
196
Minute
Brummell, 13 March 2003, ‘Iraq: Legal Basis for Use of Force – Note
of discussion with Attorney
General
Thursday, 13 March 2003’.
197
Letter
Brummell to Hemming, 14 March 2003, ‘Iraq – Position of the
CDS’.
479