Goldsmith's Advice To Blair Published

The Chilcot Iraq inquiry has released details of the legal advice given to Tony Blair, from the then Attorney General Lord Goldsmith, prior to the invasion of Iraq.

In the released correspondence (dated February 12 2003), Lord Goldsmith told Blair that should military action be taken without further approval by the UN Security Council, he expected "the government to be accused of acting unlawfully".

In a letter to Blair on 30 January, 2003, Lord Goldsmith said he "remained of the view that the correct legal interpretation of resolution 1441 is that it does not authorise the use of military force without a further determination by the Security Council".

However, following Blair's meeting with Bush in 2003 (when Blair promised Bush that Britain would go to war) Goldsmith changed his view. The BBC quotes him as saying he was "prepared to accept that a reasonable case" could be made that military action was authorised by existing resolutions, including resolution 1441.

Chilcot To Resume

The Chilcot Inquiry into the Iraq war will resume its hearings after a four and a half month break.

The Legacy

The true legacy of the Iraq war is a power vacuum and ongoing unrest.

The Legacy

The environmental legacy of the Iraq venture.

The Cover Up

George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld covered up that hundreds of innocent men were sent to the Guantánamo Bay prison camp because they feared that releasing them would harm the push for war in Iraq and the broader War on Terror, according to a new document obtained by The Times.

Brown "Misspoke"

I see that Gordon Brown "misspoke" during his recent appearance before the Chilcot Inquiry into the Iraq war, when he claimed that defence spending had increased in "real terms" each year under Labour.

It transpires that it hasn't!

Brown has written to Chilcot to clarify his "error".

I wonder if he "misspoke" about other matters?

The World According To Miliband

The Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, told the Chilcot Inquiry into the Iraq war that the UK's involvement in the war has earned it respect in the Middle East.

Miliband is of the belief that many Arab countries now respected Britain more since the war.

What planet does Miliband actually reside upon?

Brown Appears Before Chilcot

Gordon Brown is currently appearing before the Chilcot Inquiry into the Iraq war.

Brown says that the war was right, but that he regrets he wasn't able to persuade the Americans to be more organised wrt the post invasion construction.

Spaced Out

Andrew Rawnsley's book, "The End of The Party", is published today. In it he claims that Tony Blair was so tormented by the failure in Iraq that he told Gordon Brown and John Prescott that he would resign in 2004.

The book alleges that he "spaced out" several times during Parliamentary appearances, and often woke up sweating in the night.

Blair was talked out of resigning by his wife and Lord Mandelson.

AWB To Settle Class Action

AWB Ltd, the Australian wheat exporter that paid kickbacks to Saddam Hussein, has agreed to pay $35M to settle the class action against it brought by shareholders in Australia.

Three class actions against the company in the USA have been dismissed.