UK's top lawyer changed mind on Iraq War legality

LONDON (Reuters) - The British government's former top lawyer said on Wednesday he initially believed a second United Nations resolution was necessary to justify invading Iraq in 2003, but later changed his mind.

Three days before the March 20, 2003 invasion, Attorney General Peter Goldsmith told parliament that the use of force was legal on the basis of resolutions previously passed by the United Nations.

However, giving evidence to an inquiry into Britain's role in the war, Goldsmith admitted publicly for the first time that his fist impression was that U.N. resolution 1441, passed in November 2002, did not justify military action.

"At one stage, my provisional view was that taking all these factors into the balance, there wasn't enough there. The balance came down in favor of saying no, a second resolution is needed," he told the inquiry.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown set up the inquiry last year to learn lessons from the conflict, but some Labour Party figures fear it will damage their chances ahead of a general election due by June, with their party already trailing in the polls.

Many Labour members of parliament and supporters remain angry over the government's decision to support former U.S. President George W. Bush in the unpopular war.

On Tuesday, the two most senior legal advisers at the Foreign Office in the run up to the invasion said they believed that the use of force without a specific mandate from the United Nations meant the military action was illegal.

Critics of the war have long suspected that Goldsmith was pressured to change his mind by then Prime Minister Tony Blair.

LATE TURNAROUND

Documents indicated that as late as March 7, 2003 when Goldsmith gave detailed advice to Blair, he cautioned that a second U.N. resolution was still the safest course of action.

But by March 13, two days after a meeting with Blair and his team, Goldsmith had decided this second resolution was no longer necessary.

Goldsmith told the inquiry that he had reached a definitive view that differed from his original opinion and would explain his reasons in later evidence on Wednesday.

Declassified documents from the inquiry have shown that Goldsmith warned then Foreign Secretary Jack Straw in November 2002 that he was pessimistic that resolution 1441 could be used to justify military action.

The inquiry team also heard that Goldsmith, a personal friend of Blair who gave up a high-flying career as a commercial lawyer to become the government's top legal adviser, had told Blair in July 2002 there was no legal basis for war then without a further U.N. resolution.

"I don't think it was terribly welcome. You'd have to ask Mr Blair (why), but I don't think it was welcome," he said.

Michael Wood, the Foreign Office's top legal adviser at the time, told the inquiry on Tuesday he disagreed with Goldsmith's final assessment and believed there was no legal basis for war.

Blair himself will make his eagerly awaited appearance on Friday, and Wood's evidence along with the now public documents will add to the pressure for him to explain why he sent 45,000 British troops to war in Iraq.

(Editing by Steve Addison and Elizabeth Fullerton)