Lord Goldsmith infamously, we learnt with hindsight, changed his mind from "it isn't legal" to "it is legal" as the date of the invasion approached. His explanations for this are extremely long winded (you dont get to be Attorney General by using one word when a thousand will do). But it comes down to something like this...
...after analysing the syntax of resolution 1441 he decided that a case could be made that it implicitly sanctioned the use of force even though it clearly didn't say that explicitly. From this point he decided that it would be wrong to view the document "in a vacuum" and that the context and meaning intended by the Security Council members should be considered.
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