Blair and his ministers accused of walking away from war wounded

[othermeans]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,7374-1446882,00.html


Iraq


January 19, 2005

Blair and his ministers accused of walking away from war wounded

By Michael Evans and David Lister


TONY BLAIR and other senior Cabinet ministers have been criticised by opposition parties for failing to visit soldiers wounded in Iraq and repatriated for medical treatment.
The Times revealed yesterday that 790 British service personnel had been injured in “hostile action, accidents or other incidents” in Iraq since the war started in March 2003.



The Liberal Democrats demanded an urgent statement to be made by Geoff Hoon, the Defence Secretary. But Michael Martin, the Speaker, turned them down.

Downing Street confirmed that the Prime Minister had not been to see any of the wounded undergoing operations and other treatment at the Royal Centre of Defence Medicine at Selly Oak, in Birmingham, where injured soldiers are taken.