Families of killed UK soldiers plan to sue Blair

LONDON - The families of ten British soldiers who died in Iraq have launched a bid to take Prime Minister Tony Blair to court for "lying" over the reasons he gave for taking the country to war.

Two days before the election, the families delivered a letter to Blair's Downing Street office demanding the Prime Minister order a full, independent public inquiry within 14 days or warning they would begin legal action.

"These families are seriously concerned that their loved ones died in circumstances where the war was illegal," said Phil Shiner, the lawyer representing the group Military Families Against the War which is taking the legal action.

"They are entitled to know why their loved ones died."

Shiner said if Blair failed to hold an inquiry, they would immediately apply to the courts for a judicial review under the European Convention of Human Rights. He said legal experts reckoned they had "at least a 50 per cent" chance of success.

The decision to take legal action was made after reading pre-war advice from the government's top lawyer, the Attorney General, which raised doubts over the invasion's legality, Shiner said.

Blair, who has insisted that the Attorney General Lord Goldsmith's support for the legality of the war without a second United Nations resolution was unequivocal, immediately ruled out holding a public inquiry.

"We have had inquiry after inquiry," he told Channel 4 News. "I am afraid it is not sensible to carry on going back over this. "

The question of Blair's integrity and his decision to back the United States over Iraq has dominated the election agenda over the past week, although polls say Blair's Labour Party is still on course for a third consecutive victory.

"I totally understand the grief and distress of people who are bereaved by soldiers that have lost their lives doing their duty for their country," Blair said.

On Monday, the wife of the latest soldier to be killed directly blamed Blair for his death.

"It's Tony Blair's fault," Ann Toward, widow of British soldier Anthony Wakefield said of his death in a roadside bomb attack in southern Iraq, told reporters.

"He sent all those troops out. He shouldn't have done it."

Wakefield's death took to 83 the number of British military deaths in the country since the March 2003 start of war.

At a press conference on Tuesday, families of the dead soldiers vowed to pursue Blair "in or out of office".

"The man is a liar. He seems to be covering up for himself and the government," Tony Hamilton-Jewell, whose brother Simon was killed in June 2003, told reporters.

"Tony Blair as far as I'm concerned did lie and sent my son to his death unnecessarily. My son should not have been there," said Peter Brierley, whose son Shaun died in March 2003.

Shiner said the families were also considering private criminal prosecutions against the Prime Minister and other members of the government.

- REUTERS