Letter to Tony Blair

13^th June 2006

Rt Hon Tony Blair

House of Commons

London

SW1A 0AA

Dear Mr Blair

My son is a professional soldier who is extremely proud of his regiment, never talks about his work and never complains. When he took his oath of allegiance to the Queen it was to serve his country not to serve you or George Bush in the current Iraq war. I believe this war to be illegal, immoral and unjust.

Illegal because you entered our country into this fiasco on supposition and have never produced any evidence.

Immoral due to the many thousands of lives that have been lost and people injured.

Unjust for those of our service personnel who have been consistently let down and the Iraqi people who are now much worse off than before the occupation.

You stated that God had told you to take us into this war. Well, I also am a Christian but I do not believe my God is the same as yours! To promote peace on one hand and invade and cause chaos and mayhem on the other is not in any of the teachings I have been taught.

Apart from those in the media who have been opposed to this war and have reported the truth there appears to be a ‘blackout’ when it comes to news coverage, whether on the television or in the newspapers. The little that has been reported has been biased towards Government ‘spin’ and has not told the whole truth. For the past 3 years I heard practically nothing about what was happening in Iraq until my son informed me he was going and I delved further. Why is it that living in a democracy I am not able to see/hear the truth of your actions? This same democracy that you keep telling us you are trying to instil into a country that many of its people know nothing of!

Where have the billions of pounds come from to fund this war? Why have you and George Bush spent so much money on removing a dictator with no recompense? No country invades another just to rid it of a dictator. The oil and uranium in Iraq belongs to its people – not to UK and US companies. Its skilled workers should be employed to rebuild their country – not stand by and watch foreign contractors make a vast amount of money out of their misery!

I work in my local hospital and the Trust which covers 3 sites has announced job losses of 720 and the possible closure of my department. Whilst spending billions of pounds of tax payers money on this illegal war services such as the NHS and schools are suffering. When will this stop?

I believe the British forces are the best in the world and am extremely proud of them, as I am of my son. They are often working in temperatures which rise above 50°C and in dangerous situations. I feel you have betrayed their trust by forcing them into a situation which was denounced by the United Nations. As a member of the UN is Britain not supposed to act in agreement with their decisions, therefore, keeping the peace in this troubled world? You obviously thought better and ignored their advice. Consequently, many thousands of lives have been lost and many innocent and hardworking forces personnel have died needlessly. The cutbacks within the MOD have cost the lives of young men and women and still the necessary safety equipment has not been supplied.

You keep reiterating you are prepared to leave the troops in Iraq until there is stability there. The Iraqi people and even their own Prime Minister want our troops out. I urge you to withdraw our troops immediately with a deadline for their total removal.

You will never be remembered as a peacemaker Mr Blair, you have too much blood on your hands! To think that I even voted for the person who has sent my son into an illegal war makes me angry and appalled.

Yours sincerely

Lynda Holmes

A proud MFAW mom