The mother of a Glasgow soldier who was killed in Iraq has spoken ahead of the inquiry into why the war began.
Rose Gentle, whose 19-year-old son Gordon died in Basra in 2004, spoke to STV News before travelling down to London for the beginning of the inquiry on Tuesday.
Rose has been an outspoken critic of the Iraq conflict and helped set up the group Military Families against the War.
She said: "We are actually a bit relieved that it is actually starting to happen. We have waited five years for this. It has been a long fight. Some mornings I did say what is the point and then other mornings I thought no, I have started it I may as well go through with it. It has been hard."
Asked why the inquiry was important to her, Rose said: "We have been told so many different reasons. For peace of mind, for the families, we really need to know the truth. We really need to know why we did go in there. The other families are quite happy it has actually started. They are all a bit nervous as we don’t know what the outcome is going to be."
Sir John Chilcot will head the inquiry. On Monday, he pledged to produce a "full and insightful" account of the decision-making process which took Britain into the conflict. On the eve of the first public hearings, Sir John said he and his team would not shrink from making criticisms of individuals or organisations if they were justified.
Rose commented: "He (Sir John) did promise that no stone would be left unturned. If there were fingers to be pointed, mistakes made, that he would soon let us know what the mistakes are and who is to blame…we hope he is as honest as he says he is.
"This inquiry is different from the rest. The families have managed to put their questions across which I think is more important. There is going to be a lot more coming out for people to hear. The other two inquiries, we never got told a thing. I think this one is more important.
"I have asked why we did go into Iraq. It was for weapons of mass destruction. Gordon was never killed by weapons of mass destruction. Why didn’t they bring them out if there was no weapons of mass destruction there?
"Why did they send out boys into that war in the first place when they weren’t well equipped? There is a lot of our boys who have been killed through lack of equipment so, to me, that is not right for a start."
Sir John has stressed the inquiry is not a court of law set up to determine issues of guilt and innocence. All five members of the inquiry committee were appointed by Downing Street, leading to critics saying the inquiry will be a whitewash.
Responding to this claim, Sir John said: "All five members of the committee, myself included, are now completely independent. What you can’t do is make up a committee like this of people who have no experience of the workings of government from the inside.
"Our determination is to do not merely a thorough job, but one that is frank and will bear public scrutiny."
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