UK 'misled' on Iraq, dead soldier's father tells inquiry - News - Evening Standard
       

UK 'misled' on Iraq, dead soldier's father tells inquiry

A retired senior Army officer whose son was killed in Iraq said today that Britain was "lied to" and "badly let down" before the start of the conflict.

Former Lieutenant Colonel Colin Mildinhall attacked the legality of the war and argued that the UK was "misled" over the claim that Saddam Hussein could deploy weapons of mass destruction within 45 minutes.

He told a special meeting of the Iraq Inquiry in London for families of servicemen and women who died in the conflict that the 45-minute claim referred only to Iraq's Scud missiles.

Mr Mildinhall, a veteran of the 1991 Gulf War, said: "It's on this basis that I believe we were misled.

"I would particularly like the Iraq Inquiry to look at the whole representation of intelligence, how it was used or misused in the approach to this war.

"I believe this country has been badly let down and been lied to. I would like to see some accountability."

He added: "The prime concern I have is over the legality of the war to start with."

His son, Lieutenant Tom Mildinhall, 26, of the Queen's Dragoon Guards, was killed by an improvised explosive device while in a Snatch Land Rover patrol in the southern city of Basra in May 2006.

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