UK 'lied to' on Iraq, inquiry told

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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.

The widow of an airman killed in the worst single incident for British forces during the Iraq War called for the inquiry to look at why UK forces were sent to war in 2003 despite being ill-prepared.

Kellie Merritt's husband, Flight Lieutenant Paul Pardoel, 35, was one of 10 British servicemen who died when their RAF Hercules was shot down near Baghdad in January 2005.

She told the meeting: "I'm wondering if there will be any examination of the invasion of Iraq, which wasn't preceded by a nation-building plan. Also the political decision to go to war was taken in circumstances where the United Kingdom's material resources were deficient, relevantly the Hercules being worn out and ill-protected."