ROSE Gentle, a mother who lost her son in the Iraq War, is to be awarded an honorary degree for her tireless campaigning.
Her son Gordon died while serving in Iraq with the Royal Highland Fusiliers, and she became an outspoken critic of the UK government’s handling of the war, setting up Military Families Against the War and the Justice 4 Gordon Gentle campaigns.
Gentle is now to receive an honorary doctorate from the University of Glasgow and said her son would be “laughing his head off” at the thought of her going to university.
“I was genuinely surprised, to tell the truth,” she said.
“I found out a couple of months ago and I was taken aback. It’s an honour to get it but I was thinking ‘why am I getting this?’.
“I was told it was for campaigning and it’s lovely to see that campaigning for justice for Gordon and for other families in the Iraq War is being recognised.
“I think Gordon would be laughing his head off at this but he’d be saying ‘go for it mum’.
“It’s a tribute to him as it’s his anniversary this month.”
Her son Fusilier Gentle, from the Pollok area of Glasgow, was 19 when an IED exploded under his Land Rover in Basra in June 2004.
His mother, 53, holds Tony Blair responsible and welcomed the publication of the Chilcot report last year, describing it as “comeuppance”.
Gentle said she wanted to look the former Prime Minister in the eye and ask: “Why did you send my son to be killed?”
Blair said he made the decision to go to war in 2003 “in good faith”.
The report found that the invasion of Iraq was based on “flawed evidence” and that the UK went to war before peaceful solutions were exhausted and military action was “not the last resort”.
At a press conference after John Chilcot unveiled his report, Gentle said they had asked to meet Blair “years ago” but he did not do so.
“This is his opportunity to come and speak to the families now”, she added. “We’ve proved him wrong because everything that we’ve said from the start has actually came out today, and I think he thought ‘they’re going to give up and walk away’.”
In a separate media briefing, Blair was asked if he could look bereaved families in the eye and say he would make the same decision to go to war again.
He said: “I look not only families in the eye, but the nation — I did not mislead, I made the decision in good faith. But I cannot say we took the wrong decision. I took the right decision and the world is a better place for it.”
Earlier, he said: “I will take full responsibility for any mistakes without exception or excuse.”
The UK lost 179 servicemen and women during the campaign that followed the invasion, with 19 of them from Scotland.
Others being honoured by the university this year include Nobel Prize-winning biologist Paul Nurse, DC Comics artist Frank Quitely and John Shaw, vice-chairman of India’s largest biopharmaceutical company Biocon Limited.
Professor Anton Muscatelli, principal and vice-chancellor of the university, said: “Awarding honorary degrees is an opportunity for the university to recognise the achievements of individuals from across all walks of life whose work and public spirited efforts have made a positive impact not just in Scotland, but the UK and around the world.
“We look forward to celebrating the successes of all our honorary graduands, and we also look forward to working with them in the future, for the common good.”
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