Iraq war advice

So now we hear that there was no detailed advice from the Attorney General about the legality of the war in Iraq. The brief, A4 statement to parliament was the sum total of the Attorney General’s advice. The more detailed 13-page document, guarded by the government against Freedom of Information requests, was, we are now told, merely a preliminary opinion.

The revelation is startling. It is clear that MPs voted in favour of the war on the ground that the Attorney General had, in detail, set out the case for war without another UN resolution. The general view then, and one not dispelled by two oscitant enquiries, was that the statement to parliament was a précis of the detailed advice. Blair’s case for the war, along with his credibility, is crumbling.

My suspicion, however, is that we are being prepared for the disclosure of the Attorney General’s detailed statement. The government is under such pressure to do so that it may now be the only way to draw a line under the controversy. However, the statement may have cautioned against war without another UN resolution; it may have raised other reservations that would demolish the government’s case for war. What better way to prepare for its release than by diminishing its importance to a mere preliminary statement?