Birmingham mums blame Tony Blair for deaths of their sons in Iraq

May 2 2009 by Paul Bradley, Birmingham Mail

MOTHERS of Birmingham soldiers who died fighting in Basra today blamed the British government for the death of 179 British soldiers in Iraq.

Carol Jones’s son, Sergeant John Jones, from Castle Bromwich, died aged 31 when a roadside bomb exploded while he was on a routine patrol in Basra in 2005.

He had been away from his wife, Nickie, and five-year-old son, Jack, for just over two weeks when he was tragically killed.

As the British Government claimed huge progress had been made in the region, Sgt Jones’s mum said that her son’s death had been in vain.

Mrs Jones, who runs the Forces Family Support Group, said: “In the end John died for nothing.

“We have always been very proud of him but that is the sad truth.

“I blame Tony Blair for all of this.

“He is the man who caused all this trouble along with Bush.

“We were told that there were weapons of mass destruction but in the end it all came down to oil.

“If his children had been fighting out there it would have been a different story. He should have thought before he sent our sons and daughters out there.

“I don’t think we can really judge if the war has been a success,” she added.

“Most of us know what it was like before 2003 from what the media and the government tell us.

“But we can’t really judge.

“And I certainly don’t think there will be lasting peace there.”

But despite the death of 179 British soldiers and more than 3,000 Iraqi civilians in Basra, Prime Minister Gordon Brown hailed the war in Iraq as a “success story”.

He praised thousands of troops, many of who had served on four tours in the last six years, for their efforts and said that Britain should be proud of the legacy it is leaving there.