Killed British soldier's dad calls Blair 'war criminal' with 'blood on his hands'

London, Oct. 10 (ANI): The father of a British military personnel, who died in the Iraq conflict, refused to shake hands with former Prime Minister Tony Blair, saying that he is a 'war criminal' and 'has blood on his hands.'

Blair had to face the consequence of his six-year-old decision of sending British troops to Iraq at a reception that followed a service commemorating those who served in the conflict.

"I'm not shaking your hand, you've got blood on it," The Guardian quoted Peter Brierley, whose son Lance Corporal Shaun Brierley died in a road accident while on service in Iraq in March 2003, as saying.

Brierley has campaigned for a number of years for an inquiry into the war.

"I believe Tony Blair is a war criminal. I can't bear to be in the same room as him. I believe he's got the blood of my son and all of the other men and women who died out there on his hands," he later said.

Earlier in the day, Blair was virtually attacked by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, for the "mistakes" of those behind the conflict.

"Many people of my generation and younger grew up doubting we should ever see another straightforward international conflict, fought by a standing army with conventional weapons.

"We had begun to forget the realities of cost. And when such conflict appeared on the horizon, there were those among both policymakers and commentators who were able to talk about it without really measuring the price, the cost of justice," he had said. (ANI)