I have to hold my hand up and confess that I haven’t been keeping an eye on the independent Iraq inquiry, set up by Gordon Brown and chaired by Sir John Chilcot, despite having opposed the Iraq war since 2002 and obsessively followed every twist and turn of Hutton, Butler et al.
So imagine my surprise to see Seumas Milne, in his Guardian column, referring to the anti-war “climate that saw parents of soldiers killed in Iraq tell the official inquiry on Tuesday they want to see Blair indicted as a war criminal”.
Did they? How had I missed this, I wondered? I was aware that Tony Blair had been publicly snubbed by a bereaved father who accused him of having “blood on his hands” at a reception last Sunday, following the service at St Paul’s to commemorate the Iraq war dead.
But, on Tuesday, a group of bereaved parents, it seems, went further. Here is the BBC’s online report:
At the meeting, Sir John invited the first comments from family members of those Britons killed in Iraq.
Colin Mildinhall, whose 26-year-old son, Tom, a member of the Queen’s Dragoon Guards, was killed in Basra in 2006, said his prime concern was the legality of the Iraq war.
“The country was badly let down and lied to,” he said.
Flt Lt Paul Pardoel was killed in the crash of an RAF Hercules in January 2005.
His widow, Kellie Merritt, asked the committee whether there would be an examination of the preparations for the Iraq invasion.
Roger Bacon, whose son Major Matthew Bacon was killed by a roadside bomb in Basra in 2005, said: “This was an illegal war, and there is still a great deal of anger. It showed today.
“The anger was directed at Tony Blair for taking us into this mess.”
His sentiments were echoed by Deirdre Gover, the mother of 30-year-old Kristian, who died in a helicopter accident in 2004.
She said: “Tony Blair deceived us on weapons of mass destruction. He should be held responsible for the conflict. He lied to his cabinet, to his government, to parliament and to us.”
Strong words. But will Teflon Tony — who, not surprisingly, wanted the inquiry to be held in private — ever be held responsible for the Iraq imbroglio? Or will he survive the Chilcot-led inquiry as well, as he goes on to become the first president of Europe?
Watch this space.
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