国际英语新闻：British Justice Secretary vetoes Iraq minutes release

LONDON, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- British Justice Secretary Jack Straw vetoed publication of the minutes of key cabinet meetings held in the run-up to the Iraq war in 2003, the BBC reported Wednesday.

    Straw said he would use a clause in the Freedom of Information Act to block release of details of the meetings, in which the war's legality was discussed, the BBC reported.

    Releasing the papers would do "serious damage" to cabinet government, and outweighed needs of public interest, Straw said.

    Straw told MPs he had not taken the decision -- which had to be approved by Cabinet -- to block the minutes "lightly."

    It was "necessary" to protect the confidentiality of ministerial discussions, which underpinned cabinet government and collective responsibility, Straw said.

    "There is a balance to be struck between openness and maintaining aspects of our structure of democratic government," he said. "The damage that disclosure of the minutes in this instance would far outweigh any corresponding public interest in their disclosure."

    The Information Tribunal ruled in January that the minutes should be published.

    "The decision to commit the nation's armed forces to the invasion of another country is momentous in its own right and ... its seriousness is increased by the criticisms that have been made to the general decision-making processes in the cabinet at the time," the tribunal said.

    To release the minutes now would not set a precedent in future cases, it added.

    It was reported that Cabinet minutes are not normally released until at least 30 years after the event.

    Information Commissioner Richard Thomas, who supported publication of the minutes on public interest grounds, said the exercise of a veto over standard freedom of information (FOI) procedures must be "exceptional."

    "Anything other than exceptional use of the veto would threaten to undermine much of the progress made towards greater openness and transparency in government since the FOI Act came into force," he said.