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Dutch report: Iraq war not legal | |
(19 minutes later) | |
An inquiry into the Netherlands' support for the invasion of Iraq says it was not justified by UN resolutions. | |
The Dutch Committee of Inquiry on Iraq said UN Security Council resolutions did not "constitute a mandate for... intervention in 2003". | |
The inquiry was launched after foreign ministry memos were leaked that cast doubt on the legal basis for the war. | The inquiry was launched after foreign ministry memos were leaked that cast doubt on the legal basis for the war. |
The Netherlands gave political support to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, but has denied having any military role. | The Netherlands gave political support to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, but has denied having any military role. |
The report demolishes the Dutch case for supporting the invasion, says the BBC's Europe correspondent Jonny Dymond. | |
It could also be taken to reinforce the international case against the Iraq war, he says. | |
The report accuses ministers of a selective use of intelligence reports, and says Prime Minister Jan-Peter Balkenende was largely isolated from policy making, which was steered by the foreign minister at the time, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer. | |
Mr Balkenende formally thanked the committee for its report, but said he needed time to study it before responding. | |
Political loyalty | |
Mr Balkenende decided to join the "coalition of the willing" assembled by US President George W Bush because, he said, Saddam Hussein had consistently flouted UN resolutions and possessed weapons of mass destruction. | |
The Dutch parliament opposed the decision to back the invasion. | |
Committee chairman, Willibrord Davids, said the Netherlands' loyalty to its alliance with the US and UK had taken precedence over the need to ensure the legality of the invasion. | |
The committee said there had been no UN mandate for the attack, putting the decision to join at odds with international law. | |
It said "the wording of [UN Security Council] Resolution 1441 cannot reasonably be interpreted as authorising individual member states to use military force". | |
Iraq's breach of Resolution 1441, which gave Iraq "a final opportunity to comply with its disarmament obligations", was used by the coalition, and the Netherlands, to justify its invasion. | |
However, a memo from the time by Dutch foreign ministry lawyers, subsequently leaked, suggested the war was in fact illegal under international law. | |
The Dutch parliament is likely now to consider whether the prime minister misled parliament, and whether to launch a formal parliamentary inquiry. |