Don’t go gentle into the night

The grieving family of a teenage soldier who died in Iraq after just two months of active service have taken their anti-war protest all the way to Downing Street.

Sarah Left reports

Gordon Gentle arrived home from a trip to a Glasgow job centre one day and announced he was signing up for the military. His mother, Rose, tried to talk the teenager out of it. His 14-year-old sister, Maxine, was frightened that her big brother might be sent off to a war zone on the basis of a spur of the moment decision.

She was right to worry. Gordon shipped off to Iraq with the 1st Battalion Royal Highland Fusiliers in May, after six months of training. The 19-year-old soldier was dead by the end of June, killed in the roadside bombing of a British military convoy in Basra.

Today Maxine made her first trip to London, to vent her anger and grief in person at Downing Street, and to deliver a letter demanding that the prime minister bring home the thousands of troops still serving in Iraq.

"My big brother died at the age of 19, and what for? A war over oil and money, that’s what I think the war is all about," she wrote to Tony Blair.

"Everyone is hurting badly right now, but you would not know that because your sons are all tucked up nicely in bed at night, at the same time as there are mums and dads who still have sons over there, who can’t sleep at night, wondering if their loved ones are coming home or are they going to be the next ones to be killed."

Today she and her mother stood in the rain in front of No 10, wearing T-shirts bearing an image of Gordon’s smiling face. Mrs Gentle carried a framed photograph of her son in uniform, and wore his picture on a heart-shaped pendant around her neck. Surrounded by members of the Stop the War Coalition, reporters and television cameras, they huddled together under an umbrella and looked near to tears.

But Mrs Gentle was ready for a fight. She too had written to Mr Blair, immediately after her son’s death. She received no reply until last night, 20 minutes before she was due to leave for London.

Mr Blair expressed his deep sorrow for Gordon’s death, and continued: "I would like you to know that I believe what Gordon and his fellow soldiers are doing out in Iraq is vital not just for the change necessary in that country but vital for the security and stability of this country."

"It is a heavy responsibility to send young soldiers into war, and I assure you I did not take the decision lightly," he wrote.

Mrs Gentle expressed disgust that Mr Blair had not acknowledged her before he was threatened with publicity, and she deeply disagreed with his decision to send her son and others to Iraq.

"Tony Blair’s got his letter back now," she said as she emerged from No 10 with Maxine. They had walked out on a contrite John Prescott, who she said had apologised that Downing Street had not written more quickly. The deputy prime minister did not, of course, apologise for sending her son to fight in a war she believes is unnecessary.

"I hope he’ll listen and bring all the soldiers home," Maxine said. "I wouldn’t want any other family to feel how we’re feeling."

Maxine said other families facing the same tragic news should keep their spirits up. "Life does go on," she said. Her mother urged other families to join together to have the troops brought home.

Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn, who accompanied the family into No 10, said afterwards that Mrs Gentle had told Mr Prescott in no uncertain terms what she thought of government policy in Iraq.

"She made it clear that as far as she was concerned Gordon was murdered not by Iraqis but by the political decision to send troops to Iraq," he said.

The Gentles join a growing chorus of families of dead soldiers who have called on Mr Blair to pull British troops out. Christine Morgan appealed for a pullout before any more young soldiers met the fate of her son. 21-year-old private Marc Ferns of the Black Watch was killed by a roadside bomb in Basra.

Margaret Evans also called on Mr Blair to end engagement in Iraq after her nephew, Private Lee O’Callaghan, 20, was shot dead in Basra.

Sixty-five British soldiers have died in Iraq.

Standing in front of Downing Street, having just stormed out of a meeting with the deputy prime minister and thrown Mr Blair’s letter back in his face, Mrs Gentle knew exactly what Gordon would think of her campaign.

"He’d say, ’Oh, there she goes again,’" she laughed.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1286691,00.html?=rss