Tri-Service

Iraq War Families' Appeal Reaches 50K Fundraising Goal

Iraq War Families' Crowdfunding Appeal Passes £40,000

Relatives of British Iraq War dead have raised more than £50,000 just hours after launching an online appeal to pay for help as they pursue legal action against Tony Blair and leading government officials.

The Iraq War Families Campaign Group launched the bid to raise £50,000 to "bring to justice those responsible for the war and the deaths of our loved ones" on crowdjustice.co.uk on Tuesday morning. It had passed 80% of that total by Tuesday afternoon.

It comes weeks after the Chilcot Report's criticism of former Prime Minister Mr Blair, as well as other leading politicians and senior officials, for their actions before, during and after the conflict, in which 179 British service personnel died.

Roger Bacon, whose son Major Matthew Bacon was killed by a roadside bomb in Basra in September 2005, is one of those backing the campaign:

The fundraising effort is led by Mr Bacon and Reg Keys, whose son, Lance Corporal Tom Keys, died in 2003.

On the fundraising page on the crowdjustice.co.uk website, they said there had been speculation that Mr Blair and others "can and should" be taken to court and "we, the families, wish to bring such legal proceedings against any state officials who might have acted unlawfully or in

excess of their powers".

The group is aiming to raise £150,000 in total to fund their lawyers, McCue & Partners - currently working free of charge - to fully analyse the 2.6 million-word report by Sir John Chilcot and prepare "a comprehensive opinion approved by expert senior counsel".

Mr Blair with former President George Bush

The long-awaited Chilcot report strongly criticised the way Mr Blair took the country to war in 2003 on the basis of "flawed" intelligence, with inadequate preparation, at a time when Saddam Hussein did not pose an "imminent threat".

Sir John also said the way the decision about the legal basis for the war was reached was "far from satisfactory", but his report did not rule on the legality of the military action.

The Ministry of Defence, meanwhile, has set up a special unit to go through the report 'line by line', looking for lessons.

The Defence Secretary told the Commons Defence Committee that many changes have already been made, but he suspects there's a "lot more to do".

Mr Blair has defended the decision to oust Saddam and insisted that his efforts to form a close relationship with the US had persuaded President George W Bush to pursue a second UN Security Council resolution, which ultimately was not obtained. Matthew Jury, from McCue & Partners, said:

"The report told us what went wrong and who was responsible but it was not a court of law. If they can, the families are determined to hold those individuals to account by bringing them to trial to answer for their actions."

"Not just for them or their loved ones, but to ensure that never again will our politicians act with such impunity in taking our country into an unjust war with such tragic consequences.