Ex UK minister wants Iraq war probeClare Short wants the House of Lords to set up a committee
UK lawyer warned Iraq war was illegal
Former British cabinet minister Clare Short is demanding a parliamentary investigation into Attorney General Peter Goldsmith's advice on war with Iraq.
Short said in February, 2005 that Lord Goldsmith breached the ministerial code by submitting a summary of his advice to senior ministers.
Two of Prime Minister Tony Blair's key allies were involved in drafting a ministerial answer issued in the peer's name, according to a leak published in the Guardian newspaper.
Short said it was this that had earlier been shown to the cabinet as it contemplated military action. Britain joined the US-led invasion of Iraq on 20 March, 2003. (See: LEGAL BRIEFING
"It says in the ministerial code that if any advice from the law officers is summarised when it comes to Cabinet the full advice should be attached," she told BBC Radio.
"My view is we need the House of Lords to set up a special committee, summon the attorney, get all the papers out, look at exactly what happened," Short said.
Verdict 'set out'
Goldsmith apparently told an official inquiry the verdict presented to Parliament in his name was "set out" by Blair's ex-flatmate Lord Charles Falconer and top aide Baroness Morgan.
Clare Short Wants Investigation of Goldsmith
This is EXACTLY the right way to go. The more pressure can be brought to bear on Goldsmith, the sooner he will crack. The sooner he cracks ("Nobody leaned on me" said Goldsmith in 2003, 2004, 2005) the sooner the whole case will be laid wide open.
Goldsmith: I was not leant on over IraqThe attorney general has hit back at critics of his Iraq war legal advice, saying it is "fantasy" to suggest the government leant on him to justify the invasion.
In an interview with the Telegraph, the government's senior legal adviser said: "My conclusion was that it [Iraq war] was lawful.
"I stand by my conclusion that military action was lawful. That was a judgment I had to reach. I reached it and I stand by it.
"And I want to reject the suggestions that I was leant on, or that this somehow was not my genuine opinion. These suggestions that this was not genuinely my view - these are fantasies and they need to be seen as such."
Goldsmith: "Nobody Leaned On Me"; May 26, 2005
Well, gee, who might have leaned on him? What case are we looking to lay open here?
What case? It was ALBERTO GONZALES, the "water-boarding" expert who leaned on Goldsmith, who worked him over, along with Ashcroft and Haynes, to FORCE him to change his opinion that the illegal war was made legal (how?), that invasion of Iraq was covered by three previous UN Security Council Resolutions (say what?) and that fears of prosecution by the International Criminal Court, the International Court of Justice, and further legal action by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament would just disappear. Not only that, but they had to force him to change his opinion within a period of TEN DAYS! Between March 7, 2003 and March 17,2003. Ten days to make an illegal war "legal."
Goldsmith DID NOT write the final March 17th opinion. He read it all right, but it was written by Morgan and Falconer. Morgan has since left office.
What is missing in this case is the CRAWFORD and WASHINGTON connection. Every single player in the drama we read in the minutes and memos, briefing notes and intel reports, EVERY SINGLE PLAYER IN THIS CRIMINAL DRAMA WAS BEING DIRECTED FROM WASHINGTON AND CRAWFORD. And that's the ONLY reason we are having leak after leak after leak from the UK. Peter Goldsmith is the key. Clare Short is on the right path.
From time to time it has seemed that Tony Blair himself wants to name names.... being George Walker Bush and the power behind him.
When Goldsmith cracks and he tells what his "Washington Woodshedding" with Alberto Gonzales was really like, then we will be making tracks. Until then, we have a set of very intriguing foreign documents, well preserved, original, with every implication of "Made In USA" but as yet, no fingerprints.
There has been too much focus altogether on the evil geniuses and dupes in this story. Not enough attention has been paid to the people of courage and integrity.
And that's what I think we should do. Focus on the Clare Shorts, the Elizabeth Wilmshursts, the O'Neills and the Clarkes. Focus on the Wilsons, the Wrights, the Kieslings, the Kwiatowskis. Focus on Scott Ritter, Sibel Emunds, John Danforth and John Dilulio too. Focus on the Reg Keys and the Cindy Sheehans, the Conyers, Jackson-Lees and the Bonifaz'. Focus on the people with courage and integrity.
I am convinced that we will triumph on this one. Because the people do not want illegal war. They do not want to sponsor lies. They do not want to lose their democratic Constitutional form of government. They do not want to bear the guilt and shame and hatred that this administration has earned from the people of the world.
It is a case of, as Yeats said, "the center will not hold." This case is about to break open.