Clare Short: Was Attorney General leant on to sanction war?

[T_i_B]

Clare Short keeps on stirring it mup. Make of this what you will.

http://argument.independent.co.uk/commentators/story.jsp?story=495919

This week the charges against Katharine Gun, a former employee of GCHQ, were dropped in a way that posed once again big questions about the legitimacy of the rush to war in Iraq. She was accused of passing a document to The Observer which showed the US asking the UK for help to spy on non-permanent members of the Security Council: the purpose was to strengthen the ability of the US and UK to "persuade" them to vote for war.

Her lawyers made clear that her defence would rest on the argument that her action was justified because the war was illegal. They therefore intended to call for evidence on how the Attorney General came to the conclusion that there was legal authority for war. The lawyers concluded that the case was dropped because he did not want his advice to be subject to scrutiny.

The suggestion, however, that the Attorney General's opinion may have been manipulated is very serious. There is no doubt that the way in which a truncated opinion authorising war appeared at the very last minute was very odd. Foreign Office lawyers disagreed on the legality of war. Senior officials in Whitehall worried that they were being asked to prepare for illegal action. I was informed that the military would not move without the Attorney General's authorisation. Then on the day Robin Cook resigned, the Attorney General came to the Cabinet, sat in Robin's seat and circulated two sides of A4 which said that successive UN resolutions provided legal authority for war. I tried to ask why he was so late and if there was any doubt but was told in no uncertain terms there was to be no discussion. No other advice was made available across Whitehall.

As I go over and over events leading up to the rush to war, I cannot help but conclude that the way in which the Attorney General's opinion was produced and handled was very strange. It is hard not to suspect that he had doubts and was leant upon.

[xchrom]

1. twists and turns

there remains little that doesn't indicate that bush and blair knew that the war was bogus.
and this is one more twist in a bizarre turn of events.
the people of both countries should be ashamed at the actions of these two characters -- so much blood for so little peace.

[Capt_Nemo]

2. For the first time in her political carreer Short has done...

something close to corageous. Surely out of remorse for not taking the right stance before the war, and only after the whitleblower got the charges lifted. Well, better late than never...

It is a pity though that when she finaly does something worthy of
praise is when she gets attacked from all sides. The fact is that
she has shined a light on some very uncomfortable truths for the
political/intelligence establishment, even for people like Robin Cook.
By the way Cook is wrong on this one: it is Blair, not Short, who has
to put up or shut up.

[Monkey see Monkey Do]

3. Have you noticed the "mentally unstable" subtext

of Blair's attack dogs when they're commenting about Short? It's like Mo Mowlam all over again & I just hope against hope that the public don't buy it.

[muriel_volestrangler]

4. and they used that against Gordon Brown too

someone (probably Alistair Campbell) said Brown had "psychological flaws".
Absolute Power, the Radio 4 political PR comedy that had to be edited because it called Blair a liar directly, was in this area this week - the last programme is still available at http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/comedy/absolute.shtml (the actual programme starts 3 minutes into the audio clip, for some reason). Prophetic gems such as "it has come to the PM's attention that Clare Short has a reputation for being honest and principled. Kindly deal with this reputation immediately". The plot is Blair trying to help Bush get re-elected, and stiff Brown too.

The irony is that the Today programme wanted someone from the government to comment on the Katherine Gun case. They refused, so the programme asked Short instead ...

[Monkey see Monkey Do]

5. THanks for that

Will have a listen when I get back from the pub ;)

I got put off Absolute Power after the TV series, but keep meaning to check it out.