Mothers lose fight for Iraq war inquiry

LONDON (Reuters) - The mothers of two British soldiers killed in Iraq lost a last-ditch legal battle on Wednesday to force the government to hold a public inquiry into the legality of the war.

The Lords dismissed the appeal by Rose Gentle and Beverley Clarke which argued that human rights law meant the government should hold an investigation into Britain's decision to join the 2003 Iraq invasion.

The war cost the lives of their sons, Fusilier Gordon Gentle and Trooper David Clarke, both 19.

Their claim was dismissed by the Appeal Court in December 2006, but the mothers took it on to the Law Lords.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said his government will hold a public inquiry into the Iraq war, but has not set a date and says it would not be right to open an inquiry while British forces continue to serve there.

The mothers' case was regarded as so important that instead of the normal five law lords, nine law lords headed by Lord Bingham, the former Lord Chief Justice and now the country's top law lord, sat to hear a week of argument over it in February.

In a unanimous decision, the nine expressed sympathy with the mothers but rejected their appeal, saying there was nothing in the "right to life" provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights that gave rise to the need for a public inquiry.

In his ruling, Lord Bingham said the obligations of European states under the convention were "territorial" and the rights and freedoms provided for usually applied to those within the borders of the state. He said the two soldiers' deaths were "clearly not within the jurisdiction of the UK."

Britain has already held a number of inquiries into events linked to the Iraq war. A 2004 report cleared former Prime Minister Tony Blair of distorting intelligence assessments on Iraq but exposed faulty work. A second report cleared Blair of blame for the suicide of Iraq weapons expert David Kelly.

(Reporting by Kate Kelland. Editing by Steve Addison)