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Weeping mother calls for Blair to be held to account
23.10.09
The mother of a British soldier killed in Iraq broke down in tears today as she called for former prime minister Tony Blair to be held to account for the "unlawful" conflict in Iraq.
Anne Donnachie, whose son Rifleman Paul Donnachie was killed in Basra in April 2007, was addressing members of the Iraq Inquiry committee at a regional meeting in Bristol when she made her tearful plea.
Committee members Sir Roderic Lyne, Sir Lawrence Freedman and Sir Martin Gilbert hosted the meeting to listen to relatives' experiences and opinions on the war.
The Inquiry was set up to identify lessons that could be learned from the Iraq conflict.
As the forum was handed over to the family members, Mrs Donnachie, accompanied by her husband James, wept and said: "I lost my son and he was only 18, and I blame Tony Blair."
Rifleman Donnachie, from Reading, Berkshire, who served with 2nd Battalion The Rifles, was killed by small arms fire during a routine patrol in the Al Ashar district of Basra City on April 29 2007.
Mrs Donnachie was echoing and agreeing with comments made earlier in the hearing by the family of Territorial Army soldier Corporal Dewi Pritchard, who was killed in Basra in 2003.
Cpl Pritchard, 35, from Rhondda, south Wales, was one of three military police who died when their civilian 4x4 vehicle was ambushed by gunmen.
Cpl Pritchard's uncle, Brynley Pritchard, spoke on behalf of his family, including the soldier's father Tony, who also attended.
He told the committee: "We believe the war on Iraq was wrong and unlawful. The UK and US could not justify getting it past the UN because of vetoes by other member countries.
"So we believe a conspiracy was formed by Tony Blair and President Bush to invade Iraq under the pretence that Saddam Hussein had an arsenal of weapons of mass destruction and was preparing to use them against other countries of the world."
He went on: "We believe the true reason for the war was to protect the oil-producing countries of the middle east, and was therefore motivated by greed.
"The protection of the oil fields could have been done by the UN and this could have saved 179 British personnel, numerous United States personnel and countless Iraqi civilians.
"Mr Blair should be taken to task by the UK judicial system for lying in parliament."
Relatives of Private Phillip Hewett, 21, of 1st Battalion Staffordshire Regiment, Royal Marine Paul Collins, 21, with 847 Naval Air Squadron, and Prince William's friend 2nd Lieutenant Joanna Dyer, 24, attached to the 2nd Battalion The Duke of Lancaster's Regiment, all attended.
All families declined to comment after the hearing.
Reader views (5)
I fully agree . . . Tony Blair "must" be held to account for the apparently "unlawful" conflict in Iraq.
- Fraser, Telford Park
While I may not have mentioned the cuddly toys, I agree with his summation of the term professional soldier. Families grieve for their lost loved ones in the military as well as anywhere else. It is understandable and entirely reasonable. The grieving process is well documented and unchanging so it doesn't surpsise me to read what the mother says (especially when there is a media thirst for such comments).
I'm not going to re-hash the Iraq war in just a few hundred characters allowed here, besides, it would be a waste of time with people who think with their emotions and prejudice rather than with their heads. If you can't accept it was necessary under any circumstances then you can't understand why it was so.
I have never liked or supported Blair, nor any of his cronies; neither his politics nor his 'I know best' attitute and platitudes. That doesn't mean that I don't know that he could do the occsasional thing right.
That signature is my real name
I was a real career soldier, so I KNOW soldiers
Unlike some, I try to suppress my inbuilt prejudices before I come to express a fully considered opinion.
- Rogan, Irving
I feel sick when I read the sort of vicious comment like that from 'me a place'. Our soldiers are there to serve, not there as cannon fodder for megalomaniacs to play power games with in labour's illegal wars. We hear the shouts about the BNP but it is labour that has instigated the deaths of tens of thousands of innocent lives under the war criminal blair, supported by such ugly individuals as 'me'.
- John Bell, Nottm, UK
Me, A Place
Its easy to hide behind your computer in you warm office / home and make these comments isn't it.
- David, London
Soldier, One who serves in an army.
Army, A large body of people organized and trained for land warfare
Warfare, The waging of war against an enemy; armed conflict.
What do people expect soldiers to do?
Make cuddly pink bears?
Soldiers carry guns to shoot with, but do not expect to be shot at?
I'm not saying she should not be sad, but he was not forced to join the army and it kind of comes with the job.
Or perhaps he as well thought he would be making cuddly toys? Marketing error somewhere?
- Me, A Place
