No Country for Tony Blair

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Britain’s information commissioner has ordered the government to release the minutes of two cabinet meetings held in March 2003 under Tony Blair, then the prime minister, to discuss the legality of the allied invasion of Iraqthat began later that month.

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The commissioner, Richard Thomas, acting on a request made under the Freedom of Information Act, said his ruling was based on “the gravity and controversial nature” of Britain’s decision to go to war and would not, as government officials have argued, set a “dangerous precedent” for releasing cabinet papers that have traditionally remained secret for 30 years.

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Mr. Thomas cited the controversy surrounding the ruling by the Blair government’s attorney general, Lord Goldsmith, that going to war was legal, and the protest resignations of several of Mr. Blair’s ministers that followed.

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“The commissioner considers that the decision on whether to take military action against another country is so important that the accountability for such decision-making is paramount,” Mr. Thomas’s ruling said.