The mother of a north-east soldier killed in Iraq last night accused Tony Blair of taking the nation to war based on a “pack of lies” as she vowed to keep fighting for justice for her son.
Diane Douglas said the former prime minister had to take the blame and should be tried because he had gone in “both feet blazing” to look like the “big man” in front of then-US president George Bush.
She told the Press and Journal she was pleased the “damning” Iraq Inquiry report was not the whitewash some had feared.
But she insisted she still had no closure and would not get any until those responsible had been held fully to account.
The 12-volume findings concluded Britain’s invasion of Iraq was based on “flawed intelligence” and launched before peaceful options for disarmament had been exhausted, with military action “not a last resort”.
It also highlighted “equipment shortfalls” and criticised the Ministry of Defence’s “slow” response to the threat from improvised explosive devices.
Mrs Douglas’s son, Lance Corporal Allan Douglas, was 22 when he was killed by a sniper in 2006 having been in Iraq for six months.
She described “shaking in her shoes” as she watched Sir John Chilcot deliver his conclusions yesterday.
The 65-year-old, who lives in Aberdeen with her husband Walter, decided not to travel to London, but will receive the full report though the post.
She said: “The UK went to war based on a pack of lies. Blair didn’t wait for any conclusions of anything.
“He has to take the blame. He went in both feet blazing and didn’t wait for reports.
“He wanted to look good for George Bush. He thought he was a big man going in with Bush.”
Asked what she would do now, she replied: “No way will this be the end. My son means a lot more to me than that. We will fight on.
“There is a case for Blair to be tried. Both Blair and Bush should be tried.
“I don’t know whether I will get justice for my son. I would like to and for the other 178, but will we really get it?
“Blair needs to be stripped of everything and needs to keep his nose out of Great Britain. He’s done enough damage.”
Pauline Graham, 76, whose grandson Fusilier Gordon Gentle was 19 when he was killed in Iraq in 2004, agreed Mr Blair should be taken to court.
Speaking to the Press and Journal at the report’s launch, the Pollok-based retired nursing assistant added: “He killed all those troops, he killed every one of them. He knew what he was doing. He’s a murderer, a terrorist.”
She said her grandson had only been in Iraq for about three weeks when he was blown up.
“They never put the right equipment in his jeep,” she added.
Her daughter Rose Gentle, Gordon’s mother, said: “I have been fighting 12 years to get justice for my son.
“Everything the report came out with, that is what I have been saying. I’m quite emotional.
“We got a bit of justice but there could be more done now.”
Asked what she would say to Mr Blair given the chance, she replied: “I would ask him ‘why did you kill my son, send him to be killed?'”
