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War dead relatives vent fury at Blair

IRNA

London, Oct 11, IRNA -- Several relatives of the 51 British soldiers 
killed in Iraq vented their fury at Prime Minister Tony Blair 
following his attendance at Friday`s national war memorial service in 
London. 
The father of military policeman Russell Aston said that his son 
was "murdered" and blamed the prime minister for the "unnecessary 
death." 
Mike Aston is demanding answers from the Ministry of Defence about 
how his 30 year old son and five others died three months ago while 
serving as peacekeepers and is angry at claims that it will take 
three years before an investigation reaches its conclusions. 
Blair`s attendance at the memorial was "an irrelevance," he said. 
"I never clapped eyes on him and I am glad I didn`t. I would have 
walked away from him - being in his presence just offends me. Through 
him I have lost a son," he said. 
Aston told the local Burton Mail, published in central England 
that his opinion of the prime minister had "never been high" but now 
had reached "rock bottom" by the way he conducted himself since the 
war started. 
The father of another military policeman killed in the same attack 
also said his son was "murdered" and blamed Blair for the "ultimate 
responsibility" of his son`s death by leading the country to war in 
haste. 
Reg Keys, of north Wales, whose son Thomas died with five others, 
said he spoke to the prime minister for 15 minutes. "I felt better 
because I managed to purge some of my anger," he said, but added that 
he remained angry with the government. 
"For some reason Mr Blair and his government could not withstand 
pressure from Bush, I believe, and went gung-ho off to war which 
resulted in the loss of 51 lives," he told the local Western Morning 
News. 
"Thomas and his colleagues died because of complacency - they 
thought the war was over and it wasn`t and it is still far from it. 
We kicked the lid off a hornets` nest with Iraq and how are going to 
put that lid back on?" Keys said. 
Speaking ahead of the service on Friday, Julie Maddison, whose son 
Chris was killed, said that she was boycotting the service after 
describing Blair and his ministers as "hypocrites" for attending. 
Earlier in the week, Gordon Evans, whose son died in a helicopter 
crash in the first hours of the conflict, warned Blair to stay away 
from the memorial, saying the he would not be welcomed. 
HC/212 
End