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'Blair is world's worst terrorist': families of Iraq war victims react to Chilcot report 'Blair is world's worst terrorist': families of Iraq war victims react to Chilcot report
(about 3 hours later)
Tony Blair has been described as “the world’s worst terrorist” by a woman who lost her brother in the Iraq war. Tony Blair was described as “the worst terrorist in the world” by a woman whose brother was killed in the Iraq war, as the family members of British soldiers gave their response to the Chilcot report.
Sarah O’Connor broke down in tears as she answered questions on the long-awaited Chilcot report, which concluded that Blair had gone to war before “peaceful options for disarmament” had been exhausted. Sarah O’Connor broke down in tears as she addressed an emotional press conference shortly after the long-awaited report was published.
“There is one terrorist in this world that the world needs to be aware of, and his name is Tony Blair, the world’s worst terrorist,” she said. “There is one terrorist in this world that the world needs to be aware of, and his name is Tony Blair, the world’s worst terrorist,” she said, to cheers from some of the other bereaved relatives present.
Sarah’s brother, 38-year-old Sgt Bob O’Connor, was killed alongside nine other airmen when the Hercules plane they were in was shot down north-west of Baghdad in 2005. O’Connor, whose brother Sgt Bob O’Connor was killed with nine other airmen when his plane was shot down near Baghdad in 2005, said her overriding emotion having read some of the report was anger. “That healing that for 11 and a half years I have worked for ... I have gone back to that time when I learned that my brother had been killed.”
The families have said they reserve the right to take legal action over their losses, but Matthew Jury, who represents the family members of 29 people who died, said it was too early to make decisions. About 25 bereaved family members attended the Queen Elizabeth II conference centre in central London, where they were given a few hours to read the report before it was published. Several of those present carried pictures of their loved ones, or wore T shirts or badges with their images.
Several grieving mothers, fathers, partners and other family members had streamed into the Queen Elizabeth II Centre in London, where they were given an early glimpse of the 2.6m-word, 12-volume report. Most welcomed the report, with a number of family members standing to applaud as Sir John Chilcot left the stage after giving a statement as it was published, but there was also widespread anger, while several relatives wept openly.
The assembled relatives welcomed the report, with many saying it had set down in black and white what they had been arguing for more than a decade. “Everything he said today, we have been saying for all these years,” said Rose Gentle, mother of Fusilier Gordon Gentle, who was killed by a roadside bomb in 2004 aged 19. An inquest later found that his death was unlawful and that logistics failures had contributed to it.
Rose Gentle, whose son Gordon was 19 when he was killed, said: “Now we can turn and say we have got the proof. Twelve years of fighting for my son have been worth it.” “Now we can turn and say we have got the proof, we’ve got it in our hands,” said Gentle. “Twelve years of fighting for my son have been worth it. I’d do it again if I had to.”
The anti-Iraq war campaigner Reg Keys said he felt his son L/Cpl Thomas Keys had “died in vain” given the continuing atrocities in Iraq, including the car bombing in Baghdad this week that killed more than 250 people. Pauline Graham, Rose Gentle’s mother, said: “Now we know where we stand and what we can do. Tony Blair should be taken to court for trial for murder. He can’t get away with this any more.”
Keys has worked for 13 years to get the truth about the death of his 20-year-old son and those of 178 other UK military personnel during the short but devastating war. Related: Jeremy Corbyn is a patriot – he would never have waged the illegal war that killed my son | Reg Keys
He said he now knew his son had been deployed on a “falsehood” and hinted at further action, saying the Chilcot families now had “evidence to go forward with”. He told reporters: “I wonder constantly what the expression was on Tom’s face as he met his brutal end.” Reg Keys, the father of L/Cpl Tom Keys who died in 2003 aged 20, told reporters that when he considered the ongoing terrorist deaths in Iraq, “I can only conclude that unfortunately, and sadly, my son died in vain.”
Pauline Graham, Gordon Gentle’s grandmother and Rose Gentle’s mother, said: “Now we know where we stand and what we can do. Tony Blair should be taken to court for trial for murder. He can’t get away with this any more.” That sentiment was echoed by Theresa Thompson, the mother of Pte Kevin Thompson who was killed by an improvised explosive device (IED) in Basra in 2007, at the age of 21. “It was an illegal war. He died in vain. He died for no purpose,” she said.
Many spoke of their relief that the report has finally been published. Eddie Hancock, from Wigan, whose 19-year-old son Jamie, was a Kingsman with the Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment when he was killed in Basra in 2006, said: “First of all, Chilcot’s report … he’s done exactly as he said he would – it wasn’t a whitewash by any means. He’s fulfilled the promises that he made in 2009. “I won’t stop until Tony Blair is held responsible for this,” said her husband, Mark Thompson. “He should come forward to the families and prove himself, instead of being a coward [and giving a statement] behind a camera. Be a man, stand up for what he has done.
“Just look at the parents, look at what he has destroyed. We have lost grandchildren, we have lost a daughter-in-law. He’s still got his family, he’s got everything.”
The date of their son’s death, 6 May, was also Blair’s birthday, Thompson said. “He’ll be opening his presents and cards, we take flowers to my son’s garden.”
“Chilcot’s report … he’s done exactly as he said he would – it wasn’t a whitewash by any means,” said Eddie Hancock, from Wigan, whose 19-year-old son Jamie, was a Kingsman with the Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment when he was killed in Basra in 2006.
“Obviously, some people will never be happy unless there’s a rope there. But what he has actually said is that Blair undermined the United Nations. Now, if somebody does that, you would think that the act was illegal. He’s also misled parliament, he’s fabricated facts and misrepresented them.“Obviously, some people will never be happy unless there’s a rope there. But what he has actually said is that Blair undermined the United Nations. Now, if somebody does that, you would think that the act was illegal. He’s also misled parliament, he’s fabricated facts and misrepresented them.
“I hope and I would like to call on all politicians in this country that for the grievous damage this man has inflicted on this nation, on its armed forces, he be banned from any form of public office for life. At the very least.” “I hope, and I would like to call on all politicians in this country, that for the grievous damage this man has inflicted on this nation, on its armed forces, he be banned from any form of public office for life. At the very least.”
Some fought back tears while speaking of the loved ones they had lost, and there was also widespread anger. Mark Thompson, father of Kevin Thompson, who was killed in 2007, said he blamed Blair. Tony Fisher, whose brother Sgt Simon Hamilton-Jewell was killed alongside five other military policemen in Majar al-Kabir in 2003, fought back tears as he described the report as “very powerful”.
“He’s destroyed families. We have lost grandchildren. We have lost a daughter-in-law. He’s got everything. He should be stripped of everything he has for what he’s done,” said Thompson. “It was an illegal war. My son died in vain. He died for no reason.” Fisher said: “It’s 13 years, and it still hurts, you never get rid of it. And you don’t want to see other people going through the same thing, for the sake of one man’s arrogance. Mr Blair keeps apologising for everybody else around him, but he is the man responsible. The arrogant man hasn’t got the ability to apologise for his own mistakes.”
Peter Brierley, whose son Shaun died in 2003, said: “What I have always said is what I want is to be able to go home, sit in my chair, switch on the telly and say I have done everything I possibly can. There is nothing else I can do for my son. With this today, that seems at least to be closer now.” Fisher is one of many family members who hope the report could lead to prosecutions of Blair and others. Matthew Jury of the legal firm McCue & Partners, representing the families of 29 casualties, said it was too early to judge whether prosecutions might be possible.
The parents of Alec MacLachlan, from Llanelli, south Wales, who served in Iraq and returned to the country as a private security guard in 2006 where he was kidnapped and killed, said it was clear from the report that Blair had been “George Bush’s poodle”. “The next steps are to spend the next days and weeks giving this full and proper consideration as to what happens next. Legal proceedings may be possible, but we need to do a full and forensic analysis of the report to determine what is next.”
As he left the QEII Centre in central London, Peter MacLachlan said: “The report was very factual. And it didn’t hold anything back.” He said he did not think the war had been based on a lie but added: “In the future they should think of the consequences for a lot longer.” As he left the conference centre surrounded by other family members, Peter Brierley, the father of 28-year-old L/Cpl Shaun Brierley who was killed when his Land Rover crashed in Kuwait in 2003, said he was satisfied with the report. “When I came here this morning, if you had asked me, ‘What do you want out of it?’, it wouldn’t be too far away from what I have already read.” As such, he said, rather than sharing the anger of some of the other families, he felt “relief ... that we’ve finally got what we wanted”.
Roger Bacon, whose son Major Matthew Bacon died in a roadside bomb near Basra, said: “Good government and democracy must not be trampled over particularly with such cost to British and foreign lives.” He added: “One day in the future, I want to be able to go home, sit in my chair and turn my telly on and say, ‘I have done the best I can. No matter the final outcome, I’ve done everything I possibly can.’ With this today, that seems to be a lot closer now.”
He said the families were proud of their sons and daughters, but “we cannot be proud of the way our government has treated them”.
Indicating that legal action was being considered, he said: “We will reserve the rights, ourselves, to call specific parties to answer for their actions in the courts if such process is found to be viable.”
Blair has said the report cleared him of allegations of lies or deceit. He said he would take “full responsibility for any mistakes without exception or excuse”.