Goldsmith Repeats Assurance on Iraq War Legal Advice

[cal04]

Lord Goldsmith, the Attorney General, tonight repeated his assertion that it was his “genuinely independent” conclusion that war with Iraq was legal.The peer has faced accusations that his advice on the invasion changed after political pressure from Downing Street and Washington. Speaking on Channel 4 news he said: “I have made it absolutely clear that the view which I reached was my view, it was not the result of political pressure.

“I have been a professional lawyer for 30 years, I have been chairman of the bar, I was at the height of my profession when I was appointed to this job and I have never operated on the basis other than that I reach the conclusion that I believe is right.” He said the decision over whether to go to war was the most difficult and important decision any lawyer had to make.“I have made it very clear that the ultimate question is whether or not the decision which I reached was genuinely my own independent professional view and it was.”

He added: “I had to reach a yes or no decision for the benefit of the military and civil service and I did.“The important thing is to reached a conclusion and I reached my own genuinely independent conclusion. I have never operated on any other basis.”Lord Goldsmith dismissed claims that he changed his mind following conversations with Downing Street insiders including Lord Faulkner as “conspiracy theories” and insisted they were “simply not true

“I gave a major interview to the Daily Telegraph. The record is clear as regard to that. “Legal advice is confidential and I do not intend to break that,” he said.
“I believe the confidentiality of legal communications is a very important principle because otherwise people cannot properly be advised on what they need to be.”

http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=4722992

your own conclusion, I doubt it
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/vote_2005/frontpage/4491801.stm
The US connection
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/politics/story/0,6903,1474190,00.html

[Kagemusha]

1. "I came to the genuinely independent conclusion I must be a patsy."

That's what it sounds like to me. Anyone gonna tell me I heard wrong?

[Spazito]

2. I guess he forgot he wrote this in his advice to the PM...

"But regime change cannot be the objective of military action. This should be borne in mind in considering the list of military targets and in making public statements about any campaign.

ATTORNEY GENERAL"

http://www.number-10.gov.uk/output/Page7445.asp

[wtmusic]

3. Contradiction

"whether to go to war was the most difficult and important decision any lawyer had to make".

Wasn't his decision. And if it was so clear, there should have been no difficulty involved. :eyes: