As former prime minister Tony Blair took the stand at Britain's Iraq war inquiry on Friday, angry relatives of soldiers killed in the conflict demanded answers. "I would like him to look into my eyes and say 'I'm sorry'. But he hasn't got the guts," said Theresea Evans, whose son Llywelyn died on day one of the war in 2003.
She had travelled 400km from north Wales to London to hear Blair's evidence, but admitted she was not hopeful of finding out why her son and thousands of other British troops were sent into the conflict. "He's got no feelings at all to anybody," Evans said, adding she was "ashamed" of ever voting for Blair, who took his country into a war alongside the United States that left 179 British troops dead.
She was among a group of military mothers huddling for a cigarette during a brief break outside the conference centre where the Chilcot inquiry was hearing evidence from its star witness. 'A whitewash' Another, 47-year-old Karen Thornton, whose son Lee was killed in Iraq in 2006, said she was "very angry" to see Blair, who has kept a low profile in Britain since stepping down as prime minister in 2007, in public again.
"It's a whitewash. 9/11 has got nothing to do with us," she said, referring to Blair's comments that his views on the need to tackle Saddam Hussein toughened after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the US. "He's just got this smug look on his face.
At the end of the day, all the families want is the truth," Thornton said. Earlier, in the hearing room, Blair sat with his back to families in the public gallery as he answered questions from committee members, with the wail of sirens and strains of demonstrators' chants outside just audible. The families largely listened in dignified silence with arms folded, lips pursed and the occasional tear.
But now and again, some of them let out a rueful laugh or just shook their head, such as when Blair was asked whether Saddam became more of a threat after September 11. Tight security The former premier now a Middle East peace envoy and international speaker emphasised his case with his familiar hand gestures and halting cadences, showing no doubt or regret over his actions. "I felt sick," said Rose Gentle, whose son died in Iraq in 2004, after watching Blair. "He seemed to be shaking as well, which I am pleased about the eyes of all the families were on him." Outside the conference centre, there was tight security for Blair's appearance, with a ring of police keeping noisy protestors chanting "Tony Blair, war criminal" at a distance from the main entrance.
At one stage, a crowd of around 200 listened intently as protesters read out the names of some of the thousands of Iraqi civilians killed in the war. Iraqis 'still suffering' For one British-based Iraqi student, Nofa Khadduri, just hearing the list was moving. With tears in her eyes, she said: "Every person that died feels like part of my family. Each one means something even though I didn't know them." Blair "needs to be tried in the Hague, in the war tribunal", she added.
Mundher Adhami, an Iraqi man in his sixties, reflected that the inquiry would do nothing for those still hurting in his home country. "What are the Iraqis getting because they are still suffering? We think a great catastrophe happened," he said.
