Families of soldiers attack Blair
 | |
| |
|  VIDEO |
 Should Tony Blair win a third term, when will Gordon Brown succeed him?
 The huge difference in the cost of national elections in the United States and Britain.
 War in Iraq overshadows economic success England has enjoyed under Blair.
 Unpopular in Britain, President Bush stays away from Blair during campaign.
 The legality of British PM Tony Blair's decision to join the Iraq war is challenged.
|
RELATED |
• Tony's tan perks up dull election
|
|
LONDON, England -- UK Prime Minister Tony Blair is facing renewed criticism over his decision to send troops to Iraq as he heads into the final days of an election campaign.
The families of troops killed in Iraq are challenging the legality of the government's support for the U.S.-led invasion.
They plan to deliver a "letter of claim" to 10 Downing Street on Tuesday.
"This is an important first step in the legal process of bringing the prime minister and his Cabinet to account for the deception that led to war," the Stop The War Coalition said in a statement issues on behalf of the families.
The legal move comes a day after a British soldier was killed in Iraq, drawing criticism from the soldier's wife.
Anthony Wakefield died on Monday after a roadside bomb attack in southern Iraq. The death brings the total number of British troops killed in Iraq to 87.
"You should not have sent the troops over," Wakefield's wife Ann Toward said in a message to Blair.
"I felt Tony Blair lied to us and only went to war to cement his place in history," she said. "There was no need for us to be there, and Anthony's little children would still have their daddy today."
Britain has about 8,000 troops in the country, stationed mostly in southern Iraq.
Blair expressed his condolences for Wakefield's death on Monday, but later defended his decision to go to war in Iraq.
"I don't expect you to agree with that but I do expect you at least to understand I took the decision in good faith because I believed it was right," he told an ITV studio audience.
Blair has been attacked over the past two years over allegations that he exaggerated the military threat posed by Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.
No stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction were found in Iraq after Saddam's ouster and Blair has been accused of using the WMD issue as a cover for regime change.
Meanwhile, the brother of Ken Bigley, a British engineer held hostage and killed in Iraq last year, has also called on the public to vote against Blair.
"I urge everyone who has lost loved ones in Iraq to ensure that Mr. Blair is not re-elected," Paul Bigley wrote.
The Liberal Democrats, the only major party to oppose the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, said on Monday that the war and Blair's credibility were the most important issues for voters.
"History will certainly judge Tony Blair on Iraq, but first the British people will judge him on Thursday," said Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy, adding that "Blair's judgment on the Iraq war was fatally flawed."
Despite the backlash from the Iraq war, Blair's Labour Party still has a healthy lead in opinion polls ahead of Thursday's vote.
The Populus survey for The Times newspaper, released Monday, put Labour at 42 percent -- 13 points ahead of the main opposition Conservatives which had 29 percent. The Liberal Democrats received 21 percent.
Populus interviewed 1,427 adults by telephone between April 27-30. There was a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points.
But Labour's lead was narrower among those certain to vote. The latest MORI poll found that among definite voters, Labour had 36 percent support, compared with 33 percent for the Conservatives and 22 percent for the Liberal Democrats.
Blair warned Monday that apathy and protest votes could cost his governing Labour Party a third term in office.
Copyright 2005 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Associated Press contributed to this report.
