I'm sorry, but mate, the invasion of Iraq was one of the worst-thought-out acts in the history of Western military interventions. It was a total cluster-f*** from start to finish, from the PR put forward as justification, to the poorly executed operations, to the lack of desert appropriate equipment and hardware, to the complete lack of planning as to what to do when we'd toppled the regime.
It had to be kneejerk. As I said, we hadn't been paying that region serious thought (in terms of the security and intelligence agencies)
Yes, I remember it well. They did not fabricate the story,the photos supplied to them was fabricated.
It was a shame Piers Morgan got duped by the photo; the story, as I remember, held up. But the photo was staged to illustrate the story and he went for it. A shame. You will excuse me a good-spirited chuckle at the comment about Morgan not giving the story 'proper scrutiny' given the lack of proper scrutiny given the 'intelligence' supplied.
What I won't have mate, is this 'the press were the only ones proven to have lied'...simply not true. I could dig up many links, here's one just for starters.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3056626.stm
I think your final point is perhaps the most salient. Legality, as you well know, can be debated and counter debated (depending on the perspective of argument, context and depth of knowledge of the law) for a long, long time. For me, with the many many many tens of thousands of words read on this topic since it's first occurrence, it is my opinion that there was willful manipulation of information specifically for the benefit of some.
That BBC article, one, is from the BBC who in my view were scandalous in their coverage of the issue. But what the article is about is not a proven lie, it's Bush being his usual doughnut self and saying what he is concerned about without proper advice. Its not a lie. There was intelligence that Iraq was seeking to develop a nuclear program. It was unreliable intelligence and as the article said there were serious doubts about Its reliability. However you're not showing me any evidence of a deliberate lie. If anything, Bush banding around OTT statements did more to harm the credibility of the war than to further his aims. He was just thick, as heads of state go.
The article in the mirror did not have any truth or merit in it whatsoever. It was a scandalous attempt at smearing the reputation of our troops, using fabricated and staged evidence of an event that did not take place. Our troops did what they were told bravely and did not deserve to be used as a political football in this way. It was symptomatic of a disgraceful desperation on the part of various outlets do do everything they could to undermine support for our soldiers and the war. Rather than using facts and professional debate and journalism, the BBC, Guardian and Mirror as the chief culprits in my view contributed to a continued and incorrect assumption by many that the war was illegal and also that people were intentionally lied to.
Rather, the truth of the matter was that a short sighted president and a too subservient Blair made a panicked and ill-thought out decision, leading to a long-term cluster fudge of epic proportions.
And no, I don't believe saying the legality of the war can be debated cuts it. Not as far as legality goes. People saying the war was illegal as though it is fact are doing the same as accusing someone of *struggle cuddle* or murder based on opinion alone. Its not legally sound.
Legal analysis would be pretty open and shut on Iraq:
There is a general prohibition on the use of force in the UN treaty provisions;
Exceptions being in self defence and by resolution of the security council;
There was an active security council resolution authorising use of force against Iraq based on non compliance with cease fire conditions from the first Gulf War;
Not only that but Iraq was a pariah state continually proven to have acted in defiance of UN treaty, effectively removing itself from the treaty provisions by norms of behaviour.
There are arguments legally you can put forward to counter this, but IF Bush and Blair were to ever go on trial for war crimes the case would have very little, almost zero chance of success as the arguments for the invasion of Iraq being in compliance with UN security council resolutions and generally accepted norms of behaviour against an aggressive, pariah state, in breach of numerous international treaties and conventions, is extremely compelling.