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Family Accuse Blair of LyingFri, March 28, 2003Source: Ananova NewsThe family of one of two British soldiers presumed dead in Iraq has accused Tony Blair of lying over how he was killed.The family of one of two British soldiers presumed dead in Iraq has accused Tony Blair of lying over how he was killed. Sapper Luke Allsopp, 24, from Dagenham, Essex, was last seen on Sunday when he and Staff Sergeant Simon Cullingworth, 36, were caught up in enemy fire near Basra. The bodies of what were said to be two dead British servicemen near their upturned Land Rover were later shown on television, prompting condemnation from Tony Blair. Although admitting there was not conclusive proof how the pair died, Tony Blair's official spokesman insisted the premier had been right to say the two Royal Engineer bomb disposal experts had been executed. But Sapper Allsopp's sister Nina, 29, and Iraqi authorities say the claims are "lies". She has told the Daily Mirror senior officers from her brother's barracks, in Wimbish, Essex, informed the family he had been killed instantly in battle. "It makes a big difference to you knowing that he died quickly," she told the newspaper. The Iraqi information minister Mohammad Saeed al-Sahafin told Abu Dhabi television Mr Blair had "lied to the public" by saying it was likely the two soldiers had been killed in "a very brutal fashion". He insisted: "To launch a psychological war on us he said you have executed. We haven't executed anyone." |
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