UK Attorney General allegedly 'pinned against wall' by Blair cronies to say Iraq war was legal

[sabra]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1231746/Secret-letter-reveal-new-Blair-war-lies.html#ixzz0YDQweDQh

<snip>

The Mail on Sunday can disclose that Attorney General Lord Goldsmith wrote the letter to Mr Blair in July 2002 - a full eight months before the war - telling him that deposing Saddam Hussein was a blatant breach of international law.

...

In it, Lord Goldsmith set out in uncompromising terms why he believed war was illegal. He pointed out that:

War could not be justified purely on the grounds of 'regime change'.
Although United Nations rules permitted 'military intervention on the basis of self-defence', they did not apply in this case because Britain was not under threat from Iraq.
While the UN allowed 'humanitarian intervention' in certain instances, that too was not relevant to Iraq.
It would be very hard to rely on earlier UN resolutions in the Nineties approving the use of force against Saddam.


...

The Mail on Sunday has also obtained new evidence about the way Lord Goldsmith was bullied into backing the war at the 11th hour.

He was summoned to a No10 meeting with Lord Chancellor Lord Falconer and Baroness Sally Morgan, Mr Blair's senior Labour 'fixer' in Downing Street. No officials were present.

A source said: 'Falconer and Morgan performed a pincer movement on Goldsmith. They more or less pinned him up against the wall and told him to do what Blair wanted.'

After the meeting, Lord Goldsmith issued his brief statement stating the war was lawful.


JULY 19, 2002: Lord Goldsmith photographed ten days before he tells Blair war is illegal


MARCH 20, 2003: Haggard Goldsmith arrives for War Cabinet on day Iraq is invaded

[G_j]

1. the truth!

love it!

[DavidDvorkin]

2. What did they actually say or do to him

to make his change his position? "Pincer movement" and "pinned against the wall" are colorful but vague.

There's quite a difference between those two pictures of him.