Public inquiry into Iraq war long overdue

[lovuian]

http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/index.php?sid=432297

More than five years after the event, how much does it matter that a retired law lord now believes the British government's legal advice on the invasion of Iraq was unlawful?

From one perspective the answer is: not very much.

Seen from 2008, after all, the Iraq war is history. With the Iraqi government's backing this week, the troops will soon be on the way out. Chastened by the whole experience, no western leader is likely to go down the Bush-Blair route any time soon. Like it or not, the original advice was sincerely offered and sincerely acted on. And Lord Bingham is in any case no longer a lord of appeal. In short, his Grotius lecture this week may be a powerful piece of legal reasoning. But it is a footnote to a decision that cannot now be reversed.

Some of this scepticism is well-founded. But not all of it. In the first place, Lord Bingham is not just any old lawyer. He is the most senior judge of the modern era. He is regarded by many as its finest legal mind. Though Lord Bingham only retired a few weeks ago, he has been at the pinnacle of English law-making for a decade and a half and has clearly been pondering the war's legality for years. It may raise some eyebrows that he should be so quick to engage on this supremely divisive issue so soon after leaving the bench - but if the issue is so important, why not? The simple fact is that, when Lord Bingham speaks on the law, it is always a good idea to listen.
more...

Somewhere down the Line the Iraq War is going to be considered the War which destroyed America Empire

[Gregorian]

1. This is encouraging.

More bright minds on the side of sanity.

Thanks.