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UK legal adviser confirms resignations was over Iraq war

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

London, Feb 27, IRNA -- A former legal adviser at the Foreign Office 
confirmed Friday that she resigned from her post because he did not 
agree with the government`s claimed legality of the Iraq war. 
Elizabeth Wilmhurst resigned last March when Britain`s Attorney 
General Lord Goldsmith presented the government`s legal argument for 
the war claiming it was provided by UN resolution 1441 issuing a 
warning to Iraq in collaboration with previous UN resolutions. 
"I left my job as a deputy legal adviser in the Foreign and 
Commonwealth Office because I did not agree that the use of force 
against Iraq was lawful, and in all the circumstances, I did not want 
to continue as a legal adviser," she said. 
Since leaving, Wilmhurst has worked as head of the international 
law programme at the Royal Institute of International Affairs in 
London. She is also a visiting professor at University College 
London. 
Her confirmation comes amid renewed press for the Attorney 
General to publish the full legal advice he gave to the British 
government ahead of the Iraq war. 
Press speculation is that he may have been under political 
pressure from the government to support the war and that his advice 
may have included reservations. 
HC/214 
End