The sister of one of the soldiers killed in the demanded that
Tony Blair 'look me in the eye' as families revealed they plan to take legal action against the former prime minister, following today's long-awaited report into the conflict.
Relatives said they had not had enough time to fully take in the report by
Sir John Chilcot, having had just '
180 minutes, one for every death' to read it, but would be undertaking a forensic analysis of the findings, and reserved the right to take any further action necessary.
And at an emotional press conference following the report's release held by some of the relatives of the
179 Britons killed and their lawyers,
Sarah O'
Connor, whose brother,
Sergeant Bob O'Connor died in the conflict, said
Blair should 'look us in the eye', as she described him as 'the world's worst terrorist'.
Their intervention led to
a humbling apology by Mr Blair, but he insisted he would still take the same decision to invade
Iraq.
Mr Blair told them: 'I can look those families and the country in the eye and tell them I did not mislead them. What I cannot do, and will not do, is say that the decision was wrong. I think the world is a safer and better place because of it'.
He added: 'I express more sorrow, regret and apology than you may ever know or can believe.'
A tearful Ms
O'Connor, who sat next to
Rose Gentle, the mother of teenage soldier
Gordon who was killed at just 19, and gripped her hand tightly slammed the time it had taken for the report to be released, and said her overwhelming response was 'anger'.
'That healing that 11-and-a-half years I was working for,' said Ms O'
Conner, whose brother died when his
Hercules plane was shot down in
2005. 'I have gone back to that time when I learned my brother had been killed.
'There's one terrorist that the world needs to be aware of and his name's Tony Blair.
The world's worst terrorist.'
Demanding that the former
Prime Minister face the families, furious Ms O'Connor said: '
Look me in the eye. Why is he not here? Look at our eyes and our faces. Look me in the eye.'
She added: 'When he gave his evidence it was definitely the Tony Blair show. He thinks he's the puppet master pulling the strings.'
'The terrorists took my brother - and in that sentence of terrorists I include Mr Blair - took my brother and took my family. But you won't take me. I'm going nowhere. I'm going nowhere Blair.'
She added that she had apologised to Sir
John for criticising the time he took to deliver the report: 'I thanked him for justice that he has given those names that are on the wall at the
National Memorial Arboretum and all those named that aren't included on there that need to be remembered, the non-combat deaths, the civilians, the
Iraqi civilians.
'
And then look at how our
Government treated those
Iraqis that worked for us, they leave them there to rot and be killed and the wave of destruction continues.'
Streams of family members, who had long pushed for the report, had filed into the
Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre in central
London shortly before 8am to be appraised of Sir John Chilcot's historic findings, hours before they were presented to the public.
Speaking after the report was released they thanked Sir John and said they were 'pleased' with the way the investigation was conducted, but
Roger Bacon, whose son
Major Matthew Bacon was killed in 2005, said they could not be proud of the way their loved ones were treated by the government.
He said: '
Never again must so many mistakes be allowed to lead to the sacrifice of so many
British Lives, and the destruction of a country with no aim.'
'We were proud when our husbands, sons and daughters signed up to serve our country. But we cannot be proud of the way our government has treated them.
'We must use this report to make sure that all parts of the
Iraq War fiasco are never repeated again. Neither in a theatre of war, nor in the theatre of
Whitehall.
'We call on the
British Government immediately to follow up Sir John’s findings to ensure that the political process by which our country decides to go to war is never again twisted and confused with no liability for such actions.'
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- published: 06 Jul 2016
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