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Name: Lord Peter Goldsmith Q.C.
Title: Attorney General of the United Kingdom

Position: PRO to the question "Should the U.S. have attacked Iraq?"
Reasoning:

"I remain of the opinion that the safest legal course would be to secure the adoption of a further resolution to authorize the use of force."

Memo to Tony Blair
March 7, 2003

"Authority to use force against Iraq exists from the combined effect of resolutions 678, 687 and 1441. All of these resolutions were adopted under Chapter VII of the UN Charter which allows the use of force for the express purpose of restoring international peace and security."

Written answer to Parliament
March 17, 2003

"Between 7th March and 17th March 2003, I asked for and received confirmation of the breach of UN Security Council Resolutions. It was also necessary to continue my deliberations as the military and civil service needed me to express a clear and simple view whether military action would be lawful or not. The answer to the question was it lawful, yes or no, was, in my judgement, yes. And I said so to Government, to the military, to Cabinet and publicly."

Comments by the Attorney General
April 27, 2005
Credibility
Ranking:		  Experts
PhD's, JD's (lawyers), Judges, Members of Congress, Ambassadors, Consulate Generals, heads of government, Cabinet-level positions, military generals/admirals, members of legislative bodies with significant involvement in, or related to, the U.S.- Iraq conflict.

Involvement:
  • Attorney General of the United Kingsom, 2001-present
  • Appointed Queen's Council (QC), 1987
  • Practiced Law, Fountain Court Chambers, London
  • Chairman of the Bar of England and Wales, 1995
  • Deputy High Court Judge, since 1994
  • Crown Court Recorder, since 1987

Education: Master's Degree, University College London, called to the Bar, Gray's Inn, 1972
Read Law, Gonville & Gaius College, Cambridge

Affiliations/
Honors:
  • Founded and President of the Bar Pro Bono Unit, 1996-present
  • Prime Minister’s Personal Representative to the Convention for the European Charter of Fundamental Rights
  • Council Member, International Bar Association
  • Council Member, Union Internationale des Avocats
  • Made a Privy Counsellor, 2002
  • Co-Chairman of the IBA’s Human Rights Institute, 1998-2001
  • Chairman of the Financial Reporting Review Panel, 1997-2000
  • Made a Life Peerm, 1999
  • Member of the American Law Institute, 1997
  • Member of the Paris Bar, 1997

Contact Info:
Phone: none listed Fax: none listed
E-Mail:   none listed
Web Site: http://www.lslo.gov.uk/goldsmith.htm

Other:
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