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The father of the youngest UK soldier killed in Iraq said that US President George W Bush was meeting the families of British troops purely for his own gain after Bush announced he would tell them their loved ones died for a "noble cause".
Robert Kelly, whose 18-year-old son Private Andrew Kelly was killed in a shooting accident in Basra, said British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Bush did not care about the deaths of British troops.
"For these people to meet families, it is only for their own gain. They are not sympathetic towards people like me. They don't really care that my son lost his life.
"Tony Blair doesn't care. He doesn't care about anyone. So what does George Bush care about our families and my family? He doesn't care."
Kelly was speaking ahead of the president's three-day state visit next week as it was revealed Bush would meet relatives of British soldiers killed in Iraq to tell them their loved ones died for a "noble cause".
Bush said he would offer the relatives the sympathy "of the American people and the prayers of the president".
And he would tell them "that their loved ones did not die in vain".
Kelly said he had not been invited to meet the president, and did not want to.
"It would not mean anything to me," he told BBC Radio 4's Today program.
"I am not American so I can't really judge the American president like our prime minister."
Private Kelly, of 3rd Battalion The Parachute Regiment, was killed on May 6.
His 53-year-old father had said earlier that he did not think the war was justified and questioned whether Blair would have gone to war if his own son had been asked to fight.
Kelly is a former Chief Artificer with the Royal Navy and was in the armed forces for 24 years, during which time he served in the Falklands conflict.
He said more should have been done to avoid the war. Saddam Hussein could have been removed in a different way and war should have been the last resort.
"Tony Blair should have listened to his own people," he said.
"A lot of people were against the war."
©AAP 2003
Robert Kelly, whose 18-year-old son Private Andrew Kelly was killed in a shooting accident in Basra, said British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Bush did not care about the deaths of British troops.
"For these people to meet families, it is only for their own gain. They are not sympathetic towards people like me. They don't really care that my son lost his life.
"Tony Blair doesn't care. He doesn't care about anyone. So what does George Bush care about our families and my family? He doesn't care."
Kelly was speaking ahead of the president's three-day state visit next week as it was revealed Bush would meet relatives of British soldiers killed in Iraq to tell them their loved ones died for a "noble cause".
Bush said he would offer the relatives the sympathy "of the American people and the prayers of the president".
And he would tell them "that their loved ones did not die in vain".
Kelly said he had not been invited to meet the president, and did not want to.
"It would not mean anything to me," he told BBC Radio 4's Today program.
"I am not American so I can't really judge the American president like our prime minister."
Private Kelly, of 3rd Battalion The Parachute Regiment, was killed on May 6.
His 53-year-old father had said earlier that he did not think the war was justified and questioned whether Blair would have gone to war if his own son had been asked to fight.
Kelly is a former Chief Artificer with the Royal Navy and was in the armed forces for 24 years, during which time he served in the Falklands conflict.
He said more should have been done to avoid the war. Saddam Hussein could have been removed in a different way and war should have been the last resort.
"Tony Blair should have listened to his own people," he said.
"A lot of people were against the war."
©AAP 2003
