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Tony Blair denies ordering burning of document ruling Iraq war illegal – claims

RT | November 2, 2015

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair has denied ordering the burning of documents drafted by Attorney General Lord Goldsmith which argued the Iraq war would be illegal weeks before the invasion began in 2003.

In a statement responding to allegations made on Sunday, Blair’s office said: “This is nonsense as far as Tony Blair knows.

“No one ever said that in his presence and in any event it would be quite absurd to think that anyone could destroy any such document.”

“Mr Blair and Lord Goldsmith dealt with all the circumstances surrounding the advice at the (Iraq) inquiry at length and with all the documents. The fact is the advice given was that the action was legal and it was given for perfectly good reasons,” the statement added.

The Mail on Sunday newspaper had reported that on the eve of the war Downing Street was gripped with panic as Britain’s top lawyer declared any such move illegal in a 13 page document.

An anonymous insider told the Mail that ministers and aides in possession of a copy of the document were told to “burn it. Destroy it.”

Ten days after the events are alleged to have taken place, Goldsmith u-turned on his original advice and declared the invasion legal.

Defence secretary Geoff Hoon is said to have been one of the ministers who refused to obey the burning command – a move which allegedly saw Blair trying to kick him out of cabinet.

“Geoff received the ‘burn it’ order second-hand,” the Mail’s source claimed. “He did not regard it as an instruction to be followed.”

“Downing Street was very keen at the time that the document should not have wide circulation, but Geoff would argue that the remark should not be interpreted as a sign that they were determined to get the Attorney General to rewrite the advice.”

A senior figure who served at No. 10 at the time told the Mail : “There was pandemonium. The date when war was expected to start was already in the diary, and here was Goldsmith saying it could be challenged under international law.

“They said ‘burn it, destroy it’ and got to work on the AG [Attorney General].”

It is widely thought that Blair’s inner circle applied serious pressure on Goldsmith at the time to ensure that he advised in favor of invading Iraq.

“Peter [Goldsmith] did say in that original advice that as long as certain conditions were satisfied then war was legal, but it did not give an absolutely clear view which could be used by the military,” the source said.

“The later summary was much clearer,” the unnamed individual added.

November 2, 2015 - Posted by | Deception, Timeless or most popular, War Crimes | , ,

2 Comments »

  1. The only thing Tony Blair denies about the UK USA intent to commit war crimes vis a vis the invasion and obliteration of Iraq is ordering the destruction of the document from the UK AG advising that the invasion will be illegal and that participating will render the entire chain of persons so ordering and implementing subject to investigation and trial for war crimes. It does not really matter what orders came from the PMO regarding the document. The fact is that the invasion was illegal and those responsible knew (and had no doubt) that ordering and implementing the invasion rendered them subject to war crimes charges.

    It only remains to be decided whether civilization and its institutions such as the UN are going to accept the Bush Blair war crimes as a continuing indication of tolerance if not encouragement for further war crimes or will the world draw a line and put criminal leadership and their criminal underlings on trial for crimes against humanity. Let’s not forget that two million Iraqi citizens died, tens of millions were injured and displaced and trillions in civil instrastructure was devastated in a pointless show of force intended to link the exemplar destruction and balkanization of Iraq as justifiable US and Western reprisal for the 911 false flag attack.

    Blair and his henchmen must be put on trial for crimes against humanity so we can begin to end this disgusting time line.

    Michael\\

    Like

    Michael\\'s avatar Comment by Michael\\ | November 2, 2015 | Reply

  2. Blair will most likely be tried for war crimes regardless, public opinion is just too strong. https://hisandpol.wordpress.com/2015/02/01/hitler-stalin-gadaffi-blair/

    Like

    hisandpol's avatar Comment by Aidan Kelly | November 2, 2015 | Reply


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