SNOWBLAIR

This is John Snows snowmail from thursday (malung tv news isn't so instant)

The war and the law: fallout
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Crumbs... the full publication of the Attorney General's Legal Advice
on going to war on Iraq. Mr Blair yielded up a document he has sworn
again and again not to publish. He did so in the course of his news
conference this morning telling me he suspected we had it anyway.

I didn't reveal that I had nothing more after our three page scoop
yesterday but I did say 'shall I publish, or will you?'.
He offered to do so. I'm sorry I was unable to let you know on Snowmail
yesterday that we had this amazing break, but the risks involved in
publishing such sensitive material meant we had to play our cards rather
close to our chest.

Tonight we rake through the Attorney's advice, amazing stuff which
finds him moving from Britain’s long held legal view that as the UN set the
terms of the 1991 ceasefire on Iraq it was for the UN security council
to determine whether those terms had been breached.

The US argues - alone - that any country can determine whether there
has been a breach, he said on March 7th. Well guess what? That then
became the British Government's view! Lord Goldsmith is also candid about
the risk of prosecution of British forces at the international court -
adding 'cannot be certain they would not succeed.'

We've also been round the Cabinet asking ministers how they felt at not
being told about Lord Goldsmith's doubts when they considered his
advice on the eve of war. Gratifiying to hear Patricia Hewitt say at this
morning's news conference that the first time she saw the document was on
our website last night!

Read the full document at http://www.channel4.com/news/