Goldsmith ‘threatened to resign’ over detention of British suspects

Lord Goldsmith, the former Attorney General, said this morning that he threatened to resign over the detention of British suspects at Guantanamo bay.

Now the European chair of litigation at a US law firm, Goldsmith said he first began raising his concerns about Guantanamo in 2003 and during hard negotiations with the Bush Administration, said he could not allow the British suspects to go before a US military tribunal because he believed they would be subjected to an 'unfair trial'.

Asked whether he had considered resigning, Goldsmith said: "As it happens, I did, but that would have been if we couldn't get back our own nationals; these were my responsibility - British citizens, whatever they may have done, were entitled to our protection... If they had not been released, if we hadn't insisted on their release, then I would have found my position untenable. The Prime Minister [Tony Blair] knew that."

Incoming US President Barack Obama - also a lawyer - is committed to closing Guantanamo - codenamed Camp X - as a priority.

Gordon Brown and Goldsmith's successor, Baroness Scotland now face the tricky issue of what to do with any more suspects released from the prison, who cannot go back to their countries of origin because they risk persecution and cannot find another country who will take them. Goldsmith's bold stand has put pressure on them to do the decent thing and admit the suspected terrorists - all non-British nationals - at a time when it would be highly unpopular.

Brown can be forgiven for thinking that it is a pity that Goldsmith did not take the high moral stand by going public with his concerns about the legality of the war in Iraq when it went to the Cabinet in March 2003. Some, including Clare Short who later resigned, are adamant that if he had insisted on a second UN resolution being sought - and obtained - Blair could not have joined Bush in his adventure in Iraq.

In fact, it was Elizabeth Wilmshurst, 54, deputy legal adviser to then Foreign Secretary Jack Straw who had the courage to resign because she believed the war to be illegal.

THE MOLE: GUANTANAMO

FIRST POSTED JANUARY 2, 2009