Saturday 30 April
Get up at 5 and finally study AG's advice. This is my understanding of it:
You may get away with saying that Res 1441 gives the power to act (on condition there is clear evidence that Iraq is not fulfilling the requirement to disarm of course, and on condition you can argue it revives 678) without another resolution, though that's arguable. You may get away with saying that 1441 gives that power to act to individual member countries, though that's arguable too. You will not get away with saying that the threat of a veto of a second resolution gives authority to act on the first where this is not seen as justified. And you will certainly not get away with regime change.
In other words, if you want to believe that war is legal you first have to believe that 1441 'revives' 678, which is not clear. Then that it says there's no need for another resolution before action, which is highly debatable. Then you have to believe that it gives authority for individual states to take action on the basis of a UN resolution without agreement by the UN, also highly debateable.
And then you have to believe that Iraq is 'in material breach' of the previous resolutions. And, of course, keep quiet about the real reason being regime change.
Given that all these cards fall into place, you can then go ahead, though you still risk being taken to court at national and international level on several counts. So now we know - the AG's advice was that the war was legal. So that's ok then...
©�Alasdair CarterMeet Frederick Forsyth in the rain at Sedgefield; he lays the lilies on the war memorial and Reg and Mike Aston stand ether side of him as he delivers his powerful speech. It's Shakespearean, Churchillian, magnificent.
I take Brian Eno to see the Fishburn office, and then back to Newton Aycliffe where he types his recording of the speech into the computer. Not a word out of place, not one single um or er.
When that has gone out I go home, while Eno goes off with Cherri Blairout on some madcap hunt for something to paint horses with. If this comes to anything, you will be the first to know.
Home and family. Never thought I'd ever see them as so delightfully, refreshingly normal.
- ©Reg Keys, 2005 -
