Iraq invasion was self-serving

Blair's case for Iraq invasion was self-serving, lawyers tell Chilcot inquiry

Government accused of undermining UN, bowing to US political pressure and damaging UK's reputation in the process

30 September 2010 - The Blair government undermined the UN, bowed to US political pressure and relied on self-serving arguments to justify its decision to invade Iraq, according to evidence to the Chilcot inquiry by international lawyers.

A key theme of the evidence, yet to be published, is that the government weakened the UN, damaging the country's reputation in the process – arguments made by Ed Miliband in his inaugural speech to the Labour conference.

Ralph Zacklin, the British-born UN assistant secretary general for legal affairs at the time, has told the inquiry that the attorney general, Lord Goldsmith, failed to strike a proper balance "between the underlying political concerns of the government and respect for the rule of law" in adopting the view that a fresh UN security council resolution was not needed. Goldsmith's interpretation of previous UN resolutions was "self-serving".

"The damage to the UK and credibility of the security council was very significant", he told the Guardian today. "It was pretty clear [Goldsmith] was under a lot of pressure". {read rest}