Iraq War = Crime of Aggression

The Iraq war amounted to a "crime of aggression", the former deputy legal adviser to the UK Foreign Office has said.
Elizabeth Wilmshurst made the claim before war in her resignation letter, obtained by the BBC News Website.

The attorney general's spokesperson said Lord Goldsmith's independent view was that action in Iraq was lawful.

Ms Wilmshurst resigned from her post on the eve of war because she did not believe military action in Iraq was legal.

In her resignation letter, Ms Wilmshurst says military action in Iraq was "an unlawful use of force" which "amounts to the crime of aggression."

news.bbc.co.uk...

And I'm sure she was totally unbiased. I suppose when Rush Limbaugh, or even Newt Gingrich said that Clinton was bombing Iraq at the same time the dress came out to the public to distract people from it, you believed everything that came out of their mouths, too? Newt did, after all, resign...

Originally posted by junglejake
And I'm sure she was totally unbiased. I suppose when Rush Limbaugh, or even Newt Gingrich said that Clinton was bombing Iraq at the same time the dress came out to the public to distract people from it, you believed everything that came out of their mouths, too? Newt did, after all, resign...

What?

The key points of the above are:

"The former deputy legal adviser to the UK Foreign Office..." ie a senior professional international lawyer said the war was illegal - contrary to other 'official' opinions at the time - I happen to think the legal basis for invading another country is quite important.

"Elizabeth Wilmshurst made the claim before war in her resignation letter" - I E she resigned on principle, to make the point that some professional lawyers disagreed with the official line that the war was just.

Her letter has just come to light - hence the post

"Clinton was bombing Iraq at the same time the dress came out to the public to distract people from it" - I'm assuming you mean Clinton bombed Iraq to deflect criticism at home?

Well yes he did - It clearly didn't work but it was/is standard SOP for Clinton, Reagan, Bush etc etc.

I wish Blair would go down just like that c sucker taht use to run Spain, the other countries are getting out of Iraq and in one year it will just be the US and Britain, with the US paying all the bills because Blair can't get the parliament to actually waste money on that fiasco..

Missing Paragraph now leaked.

UK's smoking gun - the war was illegal and the Govt. knew


A minute dated 18 March 2003 from Elizabeth Wilmshurst (Deputy Legal Adviser) to Michael Wood (The Legal Adviser), copied to the Private Secretary, the Private Secretary to the Permanent Under-Secretary, Alan Charlton (Director Personnel) and Andrew Patrick (Press Office):


1. I regret that I cannot agree that it is lawful to use force against Iraq without a second Security Council resolution to revive the authorisation given in SCR 678. I do not need to set out my reasoning; you are aware of it.

[The following italicised section was removed by the Foreign Office but later obtained by Channel 4 News]

I cannot in conscience go along with advice - within the Office or to the public or Parliament - which asserts the legitimacy of military action without such a resolution, particularly since an unlawful use of force on such a scale amounts to the crime of aggression; nor can I agree with such action in circumstances which are so detrimental to the international order and the rule of law.

2. I therefore need to leave the Office: my views on the legitimacy of the action in Iraq would not make it possible for me to continue my role as a Deputy Legal Adviser or my work more generally.

For example in the context of the International Criminal Court, negotiations on the crime of aggression begin again this year.

I am therefore discussing with Alan Charlton whether I may take approved early retirement. In case that is not possible this letter should be taken as constituting notice of my resignation.

3. I joined the Office in 1974. It has been a privilege to work here. I leave with very great sadness.


BTW UK Civil Service lawyers are not political appointees, in theory they're completely apolitical

We're paying enough in blood and £'s to legitimise your oil war. Not sure we're seeing any payback from Uncle Sam at all - considerably less than we were expecting!