Letter to Tony Blair
By Maxine Gentle | 19.08.04

To Prime Minister Tony Blair,

My name is Maxine Gentle and I am 14 years old.
I am the sister of Fusilier Gordon Gentle who died in the war in Iraq on the 28th June 2004.
I want my thoughts and feelings to be heard and known.
My feelings are that I think you are rubbish at your job. You don't care about the British public, armed forces or anyone in fact.

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. There was no such thing as weapons of "mass destruction", if there were Saddam Hussein would have used them at the start of the war.

I think that you should withdraw all of our soldiers from Iraq. After all, it is not our war, it's America's. So why did we, the British, have to get involved? I think that you just don't want to get on the wrong side of George Bush.
My big brother meant the world to me. I looked up to him with pride because he made something of himself.
He was well known, just like you, but everyone liked and loved him, not like you, because I have no respect for you, and nor do a lot of other people I know.

Gordon had only passed out in April, and yet by May YOU sent him and many others to a war zone.
What I find strange is that in order to be a qualified plumber or electrician you need to train for 3 or 4 years, but to be a qualified soldier, and learn to KILL someone, you only need to train for SIX MONTHS!
The people that you have sent out there are still young; they have the rest of their lives to live, just like Gordon did.

My family is still hurting badly and so am I. To you he was just another number clown.
From the minute that we found out Gordon was going over there we were all worried about him, right up until the minute we found out it was Gordon that was killed by the Iraqis.

We are all hurting badly, but I don't just blame Gordon's death on the Iraqis that made the roadside bomb, I blame YOU as well because it is your fault that our soldiers are over there in the first place, by agreeing with George Bush that we HAD to go to war, when we didn't!

As I said 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.
You would not know how we all feel, because you're at home at night with your wife and son watching them growing up, but we will never know what Gordon would have been like in years to come.

It is okay for you sitting there with all your money and power, ruining people's lives by the decisions YOU make.
I don't care who knows how I feel about you. All you care about is things that benefit you. All you and your new "best Friend" George Bush care about is Iraq's oil.

My big brother died in the early hours of the morning, and yet, when you and George Bush went on live TV in the afternoon to hand the country back over, you both stood there that afternoon smiling and acting like one big happy family when you both knew well that a British soldier had died that morning.

Nothing you can do or say will change my mind, or the fact that I am hurting badly inside.
I cry myself to sleep most of the time because Gordon has gone and is never coming back.

Quite frankly I would have loved to meet you myself and tell you all this personally. But if I met you I would not shake your hand.

This is my personal feelings towards you and George Bush, but I have less respect for you than him because YOU are the British Prime Minister, well supposed to be, and I am British, although sometimes I am ashamed to admit to being British when I have got such a bad prime minister as you.

I hope you have pleasure reading this as I have had pleasure writing it.

Yours Sincerely
Maxine Gentle