Bereaved Parents Joined By Shayler And Von Sponek In Demand To See Attorney's War Advice
KEYS FOR SEDGEFIELD CAMPAIGN
PRESS REPORT
Bereaved Parents Joined By Shayler And Von Sponek In Demand To See Attorney's War Advice
At a press conference on 22 April at the headquarters of the Keys for Sedgefield Campaign, three parents whose sons had been killed in Iraq spoke about the political consequences of the death of their sons. Also present were ex-head of UN Food for Oil programme Hans von Sponek, MI6 whistleblower David Shayler and writer and ex-Labour Party member Margaret Cook.
'Blair has changed the goalposts yet again and now claims that regime change was justification for the invasion. If my son Gordon had died because of WMDs it would have made a big difference to how I feel now' said Rose Gentle, whose son was killed in June 2004. 'But he didn't - he died for a lie.'
John Miller, whose son Simon was killed with Tom Keys, said 'Blair says he could not sit on the fence over Saddam, but he didn't, he hid behind it and sent our sons over it to their deaths.'
Gentle and Miller had come to the heart of the Sedgefield constituency to support Reg Keys in his fight to topple Blair in the general election; Rose Gentle is herself standing as an independent candidate in opposition to Junior Defence Minister Adam Ingram in East Kilbride. Her son Gordon was killed in Iraq in June 2004.John Miller's son Simon was killed with Tom Keys.
Reg Keys welcomed their support and said:
'Blair still claims this war was legal, though how that fits with his recent change of justification to regime change I don't know. Surely we, and other parents whose children have been killed in Iraq, deserve to see the full text of the Goldsmith document on which Blair bases the legality claim. Ours sons died for this - we need to know what the Attorney General actually said, and whether that covers regime change.'
All three have many times requested meetings with Blair. Keys is now challenging Blair to an open debate about the war as part of his election campaign, but has so far not received a reply.
Margaret Cook, writer, journalist and retired NHS consultant, opened the press conference by reiterating her support for Reg Keys in his challenge to Blair.
'I have been quite horrified by the way the Iraq war has fallen off the agenda so far during this election campaign,' she said. 'The electorate has to stop thinking only of taxes and hospitals because there are more fundamental issues at risk on May 5th. We are in danger of losing our democracy. Blair has done so much damage to democracy in this country over the last 8 years that we cannot afford to give him another four.
'We cannot let them brush the war under the carpet - getting rid of Blair is an absolute priority.'
Hans von Sponek, who resigned from his position as head of the UN Food For Oil programme in 2000, said:
'Blair asks us to look forward, but we cannot look forward without looking back and being aware of the history of misinformation which has come out of the UK government. The misinformation has not just been about WMDs - in the UN we have had a constant battle with them to bring out information on the conditions in Iraq in the non-mandated security zone before the invasion. Have we forgotten how many died as a result of this? The key word is accountability - the UK government cannot expect trust without offering accountability in return.'
He went on to say:
'What disturbed us most was that facts were manufactured by policy demands; policy was not made to suit the facts. The real dynamite here is the non-publication of the Goldsmith advice.'
David Shayler said:
'I came into this because I blew the whistle on the way MI6 funded associates of Bin Laden in their plot to assassinate Gaddafi. That was the point at which Britain became an associate of terrorism. Blair has destroyed every value of democracy in this country.
'The Joint Intelligence Committee made it quite clear to the government that Iraq posed no direct threat to UK interests. And the intelligence services made it quite clear that if Iraq did possess WMDs, then invasion would make it far more likely that they would end up in the hands of Al Qaeda.'
ENDS
Contact
Jane Mayes
07748 640 183
http://www.keysforsedgefield.org
- ©Reg Keys, 2005 -
