Iraq, January 15: The findings of the Dutch Davids Commission may have far reaching effects on Britain’s own investigation into the legality of the war in Iraq.
The commission concluded there were no legal grounds for the Netherlands to support the Iraq war. Some experts say it will make it very hard for the UK government to maintain that the war was legal.
Unambiguous
British Professor of Law Philippe Sands, who was interviewed by the Davids Commission which led the inquiry, told Radio Netherlands Worldwide that the findings of the Dutch inquiry are clear and unambiguous.
“They concluded that the war was unlawful, so I think the findings are very helpful on the international issue of legality”, Mr Sands says. “It’s the first independent assessment by anybody, anywhere in the world, of the view of the legality of the war. The fact that the report has been written by distinguished law experts gives it authority”.
Benchmark
Professor Sands says this authority means the report will be an important benchmark for international inquiries into the war, such as the British investigation which is currently taking place.
The British inquiry will be turning to the issue of the legality of the war next week. British Attorney General Lord Goldsmith, who earlier justified the war on the grounds of UN resolutions, will be one of the people facing the commission.
‘Unreasonable arguments’
He will have a difficult time maintaining his point of view, Mr Sands says: “It can’t be helpful for him that the Davids Commission has concluded in the opposite direction. They’ve even gone further, they’ve said the UN resolutions were used as unreasonable arguments”.
The outcome of the Dutch inquiry couldn’t have come at a worse time for the UK Labour government. There have been heated debates in Britain over its decision to enter the war and the Davids conclusion only adds to the belief that joining the US coalition was unjustified.
“It came completely out of the blue here in the UK”, Prof Sands says. “People here didn’t know about the Dutch inquiry but Mr Davids should be pleased to see that his report has been treated with so much respect in the UK media”.
British media attention was helped by the fact that Tony Blair’s former spin doctor Alistair Campbell appeared before the UK inquiry on Tuesday, the same day the Davids report was published.
Letter
The Davids report included at least one aspect which was of particular interest to the British. According to the commission, then Prime Minister Tony Blair gave a secret letter to Jan Peter Balkenende in 2002 about his plans for Iraq. To date, the letter has never been made public and nobody knows what was in it – not even the Davids commission was allowed to see it.
“The curious thing was that Tony Blair had made it clear he wanted the letter back after Mr Balkenende had read it – which is pretty unusual – but also that Mr Balkenende should not share the content of the letter with anyone”, Mr Sands says.
Duped
“We assume that it contained what Mr Blair knew about Iraq. But of course, we now know that he had nothing. So there couldn’t have been anything of any significance in that letter. It seems that Mr Blair duped Mr Balkenende rather as he duped the entire British population”.
The British inquiry will continue for at least the rest of this year, with its final report expected sometime in early 2011. However, Mr Sands doesn’t think its findings will have the same impact as the Davids report. “I’ve watched much of the inquiry and I don’t think they’re a particularly robust group of individuals”.
Crystal clear
“Four of the five commission members are really soft and none of them have any legal experience. I just don’t get the sense that this group is going to be as crystal clear as Mr Davids and his colleagues were”.
—Agencies