CAIRO, April 24, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – Before the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq, British Attorney General Lord Goldsmith told Prime Minister Tony Blair the war “could be illegal” and a UN mandate was needed, a British newspaper revealed on Sunday, April 24.

In a 13-page legal advice to Blair, Goldsmith said that military action against Iraq was likely to be challenged under international law based on a number of counts, The Mail on Sunday said.

Goldsmith cast doubts on the possibility of justifying the war based on UN resolution 1441, stressing the need for a UN mandate before taking military action.

The legal advice, dated March 7, 2003, also warned that it would be difficult for Britain and the US to use UN resolution 678, passed in 1990 during the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, as a justification for the war.

All these caveats were stripped from the Attorney General's nine-paragraph summary read out to the House of Lords by Blair on March 17, 2003.

A source told The Mail “when you clear away the legalese the picture is clear: the Attorney General believed the legality of the war was highly dodgy, and in all likelihood, it was illegal.”

One senior figure, who has a copy of the legal advice, said the government “sexed it up in the same way that it sexed up claims of missiles capable of being launched in 45 minutes.”