Military Families Deserve Answers

I recently met families who had lost relatives in the war in Iraq. They were at the House of Commons to lobby MPs and to demand answers as to why their loved ones had died. Previously I spoke at a local meeting in Walthamstow where people came to support the families.

Speaking at the Walthamstow meeting I argued that Ministers should meet the families. Politicians must take responsibility for the consequences of their actions and that includes being prepared to meet people who have suffered from those actions. Of course it may not be possible to satisfy everybody, but you cannot walk away from them. Those who have lost family members deserve no less.

I have no wish to regurgitate all the arguments about the war 3 years on; I was opposed to the war and voted against it in Parliament. It was, and is, a calumny to suggest that opposition to war meant support for Saddam Hussein’s regime. There was never any exit strategy from this war. Armies of occupation are never popular (even if welcomed initially), history tells us that. Now we have a country which is descending into chaos, which is unsafe for foreigners, where sectarian violence is rife and increasing,  which was secular but where extremist religious elements are gaining support, where British and US troops are under constant threat. Yet we are now starting to return failed asylum seekers to Iraq.

There has to be withdrawal, with UN involvement, and other neighbouring countries to be in support of what is happening. Otherwise there will be more casualties, and more families bereaved.

May 2006

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