Bring our boys home: Mothers say war was 'based on lies'

Tony Blair is facing a new backlash over the war in Iraq, this time from the mothers and wives of soldiers currently fighting there who say that the war is "illegal", that it "was based on lies" and who are demanding that Blair bring the troops home "as a matter of urgency".

The organisers of Military Families Against the War, set up by the parents of dead armed forces personnel last year, say their movement is supported by hundreds of service families and that more than 100 families and veterans are actively involved.

Lynda Holmes, 55, a nurse, whose son is a Guardsman in Iraq, said. "Our forces are risking their lives for an illegal war. So many have been killed. I'm not anti-Army. I'm not anti what my son does. I'm just anti this war."

The campaign comes in the wake of the bloodiest few weeks for British troops and civilians since the end of the war three years ago, with nine armed forces personnel and two journalists killed last month. They include the first woman to die in action, Flt Lt Sarah-Jayne Mulvihill, 32, one of five helicopter crew killed in a crash in Basra. Their deaths brought the total British military death toll to 113.

Twenty-eight people were killed and dozens were injured yesterday in a car-bomb attack in the British-held city of Basra, while in Baghdad insurgents killed a Russian diplomat and kidnapped four others. Outside the capital, eight severed heads were found; in Baquba, six policemen were killed at a checkpoint.

This is a worrying development for Blair as military families are traditionally fiercely loyal whilst combat rages for fear of lowering troop morale.

It is also being reported that the unpopularity of the Iraq war amongst mothers is having a strong impact on the army's ability to enlist new recruits, with enlistment down by 15%.

Blair's response was drearily predictable: "We respect the right of individuals blah, blah, blah, what's important is the wishes of the Iraqi people, horseshit, horseshit, horseshit, as expressed through Iraq's democratically elected government....gobbledegook, gobbledegook, gobbledegook."

He says this stuff so often he must have magnetic tape coming out of his mouth. He's on a loop.

And it must be a worry when he manages to lose the support of even the Daily bloody Mail.

Tags: Iraq, war, protests, mothers, wives, against, Blair,