I'm not going to opine on the veracity of general or specific sources - that's been done elsewhere and in greater depth, eg the Butler report summarised neatly here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3892809.stm which also notes that the sarin gas, etc, has not been discovered in significant quantities. Yes, I'm confident Saddam wanted all kinds of icky weapons. No, I'm confident he didn't have them in any useful form.
The legality of going to war on the back of UN 1441 is, at best, dubious. It does not specifically authorise force to be used in compliance (but c.f. e.g. UN 678), and part of the UN charter specifically prohibits nations from relying on the implied use of force.
Whilst I agree that politicians (and others) often have to rely on soundbites to convey a story to the media, such a serious issue should not have been decided on these soundbites - and not only were they abbreviated facts, they were also highly selective facts.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2004-07-27 09:25 am (UTC)The legality of going to war on the back of UN 1441 is, at best, dubious. It does not specifically authorise force to be used in compliance (but c.f. e.g. UN 678), and part of the UN charter specifically prohibits nations from relying on the implied use of force.
Whilst I agree that politicians (and others) often have to rely on soundbites to convey a story to the media, such a serious issue should not have been decided on these soundbites - and not only were they abbreviated facts, they were also highly selective facts.