Sunday, March 13, 2005



One way or the other

Having failed to gain access to Attoney-General Lord Goldsmith's advice to the British Cabinet on the legality of the Iraq war through the UK's new Freedom of Information Act, those seeking democratic accountability for the Iraq war are trying another method: they have laid a complaint with the Bar Council (the British equivalent of the Law Society) asking that Lord Goldsmith be struck off for failing to provide proper advice. The basis of the claim? Reports from Britian's top civil servant that the final opinion was a single piece of paper. As one lawyer said, this is "frankly extraordinary";

You can't produce serious legal advice on a single piece of paper. I would expect legal advice on war to run to 10 to 20 pages of argument at least supported by a couple of ring binders of documents

Will it work? I don't know. But one thing it does show is that, despite Blair's fervant wishes, the public is not going to "draw a line" under Iraq. One way or another, there will be justice; one way or another, we will get them.

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