Lord Bingham has retired. Never retiring he has taken the opportunity to say the advice given that the invasion of Iraq in 2003 was lawful was, in fact, wrong.
So, that's Lord Goldsmith 1 v 1 Lord Bingham.
The Guardian, like the child who is losing at conkers, now wants it to be best out of three with a public inquiry. Or best of five, no seven, until they get their nose in front.
There is never any suggestion that an inquiry should be held to identify how decisions to go to war could be taken in such a way that they would command universal support - facile and pointless though that would be. No, the Guardianistas merely want to be able to say that their coffee cup conclusions about the right and wrongs of this war (why not the Balkans, Kosovo, Rwanda) were so, so correct.
There probably should be an inquiry in to all conflicts (although we won't have any spare judges to try criminal cases which would be a bit of a blow) and no doubt there will be here. But let the terms of reference be of benefit to all the people of the UK and to those who will have to take dreadful (in the true sense) decisions on our behalf in future.
