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

May 2 2009 by Paul Bradley, Birmingham Mail

But Mr Brown’s comments were marred by calls for inquiries into the conflict.

Conservative leader David Cameron called for an immediate full inquiry into the Iraq war, similar to the one carried out by the Franks Committee into the Falklands conflict.

And Tamworth mother, Sue Smith, whose son Private Phillip Hewitt, aged 21, from the first battalion the Staffordshire Regiment, died when his lightly armoured Snatch Land Rover was hit by an insurgent rocket attack, is continuing her campaign for a full investigation into the standard of equipment.

Mrs Smith said: “I feel all the British Government has done is walk away. I hope that things do turn around in Basra and life gets better for people there.

“But the war never made any sense.

“Why should soldiers pledge an allegiance to the Queen and then fight in such a pointless war?

“But soldiers can’t turn around and say that they don’t want to fight. They should still be proud.”

She added: “Our soldiers were not provided with the right equipment.

“It is a simple fact that if we did not have the right equipment we should not have sent out troops out there.”

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