Goldsmith – no legal ground for coalition’s role in Iraq
The US-led coalition’s role in rebuilding post-war Iraq may well turn out to be illegal without a new United Nations resolution, according to the Government’s main lawyer, Attorney-General Lord Goldsmith.
The New Statesman published an alleged memo, dated March 26, six days after the outbreak of hostilities against Iraq, from Lord Goldsmith, which explains to the PM that the coalition must ensure the backing of the UN for its actions to gain legitimacy.
Lord Goldsmith previously decreed that the UN alone had the authority to establish new governments.
Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman Menzies Campbell said the Government had entered a ‘legal minefield.’
‘Action without the unequivocal endorsement of the UN may not only be illegal, but is deeply politically damaging as well,’ he said.
In the alleged memo Lord Goldsmith says: ‘My view is that a further Security Council resolution is needed to authorise imposing reform and restructuring of Iraq and its government.’
In the memo, Lord Goldsmith is purported to have argued that under the Geneva Convention and The Hague Regulations limitations existed which codified the authority of an occupying power.
Lord Goldsmith said: ‘The Government has concluded that the removal of the current Iraqi regime from power is necessary to secure disarmament, but the longer the occupation of Iraq continues, and the more the tasks undertaken by an interim administration depart from the main objective, the more difficult it will be to justify the lawfulness of the occupation.’
The leaked memo’s publication comes as the French foreign minister said yesterday that opponents of the US-led war against Iraq – namely France, Russia and Germany – would now back a US draft resolution on rebuilding Iraq at the Security Council on Thursday.
Dominique de Villepin said: ‘We have decided to vote for this resolution and to work toward a consensus within the Security Council.’
Both Lib Dems and the Tories have called for the full publication of Lord Goldsmith’s advice.
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