Alex Miller
The mother of 19-year-old Gordon Gentle, a Scottish soldier killed by a roadside bomb in Basra in June, has called for the resignation of British PM Tony Blair. According to the September 11 Scotsman, in an emotional speech to a 300-strong audience at the Socialism 2004 Conference organised by the Scottish Socialist Party, Rose Gentle demanded that British troops be brought home and launched a strong attack on the British Labour Party prime minister.
"Tony Blair said if there were no weapons of mass destruction he would resign, which he hasn't. So is that another lie he has given us? And why has he still not decided to meet the parents of the sons who've been killed?", she said.
The Gentle family has launched a petition demanding the withdrawal of British troops from Iraq, and is investigating the possibility of suing the British Ministry of Defence for negligence over the circumstances of Gordon's death. The August 31 Guardian reported that family friend and SSP member George McNeilage said Gordon's death could have been prevented if the British army had provided Gordon's vehicle with a common electronic device that jams radio signals used to set off roadside bombs.
According to the September 14 Guardian, in a speech to the Trade Union Congress annual conference in Brighton, Blair said that he saw no need to apologise for his commitment to the invasion and occupation of Iraq.
The August 31 Guardian had also reported that Rose Gentle had walked out of a meeting with British deputy prime minister John Prescott, accusing him of "talking rubbish". The September 11 Scotsman said that Rose had received hundreds of messages of support, some of them from soldiers and their families. The newspaper quoted Rose as saying, "I firmly believe that the time has come for the government to bring our soldiers home, away from the illegal war in Iraq".
Gordon was a well-known and well-respected resident of Pollok, a working class area in the southside of Glasgow. According to George McNeilage, four other young men from streets neighbouring the Gentle family are also on patrol in Iraq.
The Voice also reported that local minister Dr John Mann, speaking at Gordon's funeral, had voiced the anger felt by the Gentle family and the Pollok community: "I'm angry, primarily, at the political leaders who created this war. I am angry at the politicians who, themselves, have never personally experienced the horror of war, and yet who so easily send others to that horror. I am angry at the political leaders who, in pursuit of empire, sacrifice the lives of honourable people — and who see that sacrifice as an acceptable loss. I am angry at the political pretext for this war, the misinformation, the lies that were put forth as justification. And I am angry that those who are ultimately responsible for Gordon's death will, in all likelihood, never face justice in this life."
Messages of support and donations for the campaign led by the Gordons can be sent to: the Campaign for Justice for Gordon Gentle, 52 Templeland Rd, Glasgow, G53 5PG, Scotland, or email <justiceforgordongentle@yahoo.co.uk>.
From Green Left Weekly, September 22, 2004.
Visit the Green Left Weekly home page.