Hoon put me in 'difficult position' over Iraq, Goldsmith wrote

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• Letter released by Iraq inquiry shows then-attorney general warning before 2003 invasion that he was not aware of evidence of imminent threat that would justify military action
• Full coverage of Hoon's evidence – live
• Goldsmith's letter to Hoon
• Hoon's letter to Goldsmith
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/jan/19/hoon-difficult-position-goldsmith-iraq

The government's top legal adviser during the run-up to the Iraq war warned the defence secretary of "considerable difficulties" in justifying military invasion on the grounds of self-defence, it emerged today.

The rebuke came in a letter released by the Iraq inquiry today as it began questioning Hoon, the first cabinet minister from the time to be questioned.

Lord Goldsmith, the then-attorney general, told Hoon in March 2002 – nearly a year before the war began – that he had put him "in a difficult position" by claiming in an interview that Britain would be entitled to use force without a specific UN resolution and there was no legal necessity to go back to the United Nations.


Live coverage
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/blog/2010/jan/19/iraq-war-inquiry-geoff-hoon
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/iraq/article6993388.ece

Secret letter reveals Lord Goldsmith's fury over legal approval for war
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/iraq/article6993409.ece