The very moment War Hero Tony Blair stood up in Parliament and offered his condolences to the families of two soldiers killed in Iraq on Tuesday, relatives of earlier victims of the conflict were standing in the cold outside the door of 10 Downing Street
The small crowd of grieving mothers and fathers made their way to the Prime Minister's home under the eye of heavily armed police, and handed in a letter asking him to meet them personally.
The ranks of familiar faces were swelled by the parents of young men who have died within the past few months, as well as the mother of a soldier still serving in Iraq.
As the petitioners renewed their calls to bring the troops home, the Army named the members of the 2nd Battalion, the Parachute Regiment, who were killed on Tuesday by a bomb in Amarah. They were Private Lee Ellis, 23, from Manchester, who had one child, and Captain Richard Holmes, 28, from Winchester, who married just before leaving for Iraq in October.
At Downing Street, Pauline Hickey, whose son Sergeant Christian Hickey, of the 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards, was killed in October, handed in a letter calling on Mr Blair to meet the families of the bereaved.
It read: "I am employed as a child protection social worker, and would be held accountable if a child was injured or died because of negligence to do my job adequately.
"There would be an inquiry. I accept this as part of my employment ... You too should be accountable for your actions, and there should be redress in the form of an inquiry, at the very least."
Although Mr Blair has agreed to find time to record an appearance on ITV's Parkinson show, he wrote this week to Rose Gentle, the mother of Fusilier Gordon Gentle, 19, who was killed in June 2004, saying: "I am afraid a meeting will not be possible."
The families said these refusals to meet privately were a repeated snub, and called on Mr Blair to have the courage to answer their questions in person.
The small crowd of grieving mothers and fathers made their way to the Prime Minister's home under the eye of heavily armed police, and handed in a letter asking him to meet them personally.
The ranks of familiar faces were swelled by the parents of young men who have died within the past few months, as well as the mother of a soldier still serving in Iraq.
As the petitioners renewed their calls to bring the troops home, the Army named the members of the 2nd Battalion, the Parachute Regiment, who were killed on Tuesday by a bomb in Amarah. They were Private Lee Ellis, 23, from Manchester, who had one child, and Captain Richard Holmes, 28, from Winchester, who married just before leaving for Iraq in October.
At Downing Street, Pauline Hickey, whose son Sergeant Christian Hickey, of the 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards, was killed in October, handed in a letter calling on Mr Blair to meet the families of the bereaved.
It read: "I am employed as a child protection social worker, and would be held accountable if a child was injured or died because of negligence to do my job adequately.
"There would be an inquiry. I accept this as part of my employment ... You too should be accountable for your actions, and there should be redress in the form of an inquiry, at the very least."
Although Mr Blair has agreed to find time to record an appearance on ITV's Parkinson show, he wrote this week to Rose Gentle, the mother of Fusilier Gordon Gentle, 19, who was killed in June 2004, saying: "I am afraid a meeting will not be possible."
The families said these refusals to meet privately were a repeated snub, and called on Mr Blair to have the courage to answer their questions in person.
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