September 24th 2002.
Brief footage of the launch of "Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction: The Assessment of the British Government," (The "September Dossier"), a document published by the British government on the same day that Parliament was recalled to discuss the contents of the document and contemplated the prospect of waging war against Saddam Hussein-led Iraq. The report was compiled from reports made by the Joint Intelligence Committee.
Two assertions stood out:
1. The allegation that Iraq had sought "significant quantities of uranium from Africa".
2. The claim in the foreword to the document written by British Prime Minister Tony Blair that "The document discloses that his military planning allows for some of the WMD to be ready within 45 minutes of an order to use them."
The Sun tabloid newapaper subsequently ran the headline "Brits 45mins From Doom". The document appeared to be less of an assessment of Iraq's known capabilities than it was as a case for waging war.
It was followed by another in February of the following year which was titled "Iraq – Its Infrastructure of Concealment, Deception and Intimidation" ("The Iraq Dossier", the "February Dossier" or the "Dodgy Dossier").
Source of footage: Getty Images.
The Chilcott Inquiry found that Tony Blair was privately committed to the military option even though he lied to the Cabinet, Parliament and the British public that war would only be a last resort, and so was himself an active and knowing participant in the conspiracy to invade another sovereign nation on a false premise.
In doing this, he was breaching the “Nuremberg Principles” which clearly outlined the crime of waging aggressive war; the principle under which military and political leaders of the Nazi regime such as General Alfred Jodl, Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel and Joachim von Ribbentrop were convicted and later hanged.
For instance, in a telephone conversation with President Bush in December 2001, which made reference to the need to be rid of Saddam, Blair noted that an “extremely clever plan would be required.” (December 3rd, 2001) In July of the following year, he told Bush: “I will be with you, whatever.” (“Secret Personal Note on Iraq”, July 28th 2002). He was advised by Richard Dearlove, the Head of MI6 that the evidence of weapons of mass destruction was “thin”, but that that would be no problem advised Dearlove because “intelligence and facts were being fixed (by the US) around the policy.” (“Downing Street Memo”, Sunday Times, 1st May 2005).
In doing so, Blair was:
1. Abrogating his solemn responsibility to Parliament
2. Defying international law
3. Engaging in a criminal conspiracy
4. Abusing the powers vested in his office.
As a result, he was prima facie liable for the following criminal proceedings:
1. A criminal trial at a court of international jurisdiction for Waging a War of Aggression.
2. A prosecution under The Hague and Geneva rules which prohibit the pillage of another nation state by fundamentally transforming the economy of an occupied nation.
3. A trial in the Palace of Westminster following impeachment as a holder of public office for “high treason or other crimes and misdemeanours.”
4. Trial for the common law indictable offence of Public Misconduct. This is defined as occurring where a public officer acting in the course of their duties wilfully neglects to perform his duty or wilfully misconducts himself to such a degree as to amount to an abuse of the public’s trust in the office holder.
The war was illegal because it breached UN Charter Article 2(4) which provides that all member states must refrain from the use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state. And neither of the two exceptions of self-defence, that is the threat of an imminent attack, and Security Council authorisation applied.
In 2008, Lord Thomas Bingham used the occasion of his first major speech after his retirement from Britain’s highest court to describe the invasion of Iraq as a “serious violation of international law.”
The judgement of the International Military Tribunal said the following:
“War is essentially an evil thing. Its consequences are not confined to the belligerent states alone, but affect the whole world. To initiate a war of aggression, therefore, is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole.”
The long term effects of the conspiracy have been catastrophic to human life and regional stability. The occupation of Iraq which included massacres by the US military and torture in places such as Abu Ghraib; the rise of ISIS in Iraq and Syria all combined to create a huge death toll, permanent injuries, ecological damage, and population displacement which are still with the world to this day.
