Britain's information watchdog today ordered the government to release the minutes of cabinet meetings held in March 2003 at which the legality of war in Iraq was discussed.
Release of the documents could embarrass Prime Minister Gordon Brown, whose predecessor Tony Blair was accused by critics of glossing over lawyers' initial reservations about attacking Saddam Hussein's regime.
Mr Blair was President George W Bush's strongest ally in the war, which started in March 2003.
"The public interest in disclosing the cabinet minutes in this particular case outweighs the public interest in withholding the information," the office of Information Commissioner Richard Thomas, who adjudicates on contested Freedom of Information Act requests, said.
Mr Thomas was ruling on a request from an unidentified member of the public for the government to release confidential records of two cabinet meetings held between March 7th and March 17th, 2003 - just three days before the conflict began.
The advice of then-attorney general Lord Goldsmith on the legality of invading Iraq was discussed at the meetings.
In 2005, Channel Four news published what it said was the text of a secret opinion by Lord Goldsmith in March 7th, 2003, stating that "a court might well conclude" UN Security Council resolutions did not authorise war without a further resolution.
Just 10 days later, after Britain failed to obtain a new resolution, Lord Goldsmith presented the cabinet with a single page "summary" of his advice in which he said conclusively that the war was legal.
The government has refused to release the cabinet minutes, saying they were exempt from disclosure because they dealt with "the formulation of government policy and ministerial communications," Mr Thomas's office said.
But he dismissed those arguments, saying release of the information would allow the public more fully understand the cabinet's decisions on the Iraq war.
He backed the government's request to withhold references in the cabinet minutes which the government argued "would be likely to have a detrimental effect on international relations" if made public.