Sir, Since my friend Tam Dalyell has included me in a list of people who are “vehemently opposed” to war in Iraq I would like to make my position clear. I am fully in support of our Government’s wish to stand firmly with the United States in their determination to defeat terrorism. I believe strongly that we should retain our close ties with America, whose people and way of life I respect and admire. I am also old enough to remember the immense debt which we in Europe owe to America, without whom we should have fallen under Hitlerite Fascism or later under Soviet Communism. But, despite this, I remain unconvinced that an attack on Iraq is a necessary step in the War on Terrorism.

Over the past 30 years, America has a long record of attacking small countries — all admittedly with good intent. Panama, Grenada, Somalia, Libya, Iraq, Serbia and Afghanistan all feature in this list. But despite the good intentions, all these operations leave pockets of hatred for America around the world. This hatred breeds terrorism.

While terrorism is one of the plagues of modern times, it is only one among many. The drug trade and the Aids epidemic account for far more deaths and misery than terrorism, while huge numbers of people in the world are simply unable to feed themselves adequately. Our planet itself is endangered by the output of noxious gases.

It is my reluctant conclusion that, until the United States shows herself to be a caring and committed participant in combating the woes of the world, her military options will only regenerate terrorism.

Yours faithfully,
JOHN STANIER,
The Old Farmhouse,
Hazeley Bottom, Hartley Wintney,
Hook, Hampshire RG27 8LU.
January 7.

From Mr Robert Blood

Sir, There is rich irony in hearing Tam Dalyell approvingly quoting his cosy chats with an authoritarian Gulf State sheikh while criticising Tony Blair for being insufficiently democratic.

If America succeeds in getting a UN mandate to impose even a halfway democracy in Iraq, every other unelec-ted or one-party regime in the Middle East will by definition become illegitimate in the eyes of its people.

Indigenous pro-democracy and anti-monarchy groups will be inspired to increase agitation, believing that the rest of the world will have a moral duty to support them. If I were a Gulf State ruler, I’d be quaking in my boots.

Yours faithfully,
ROBERT BLOOD,
Erwinstrasse 99,
79102 Freiburg, Germany.
January 6.

From Mr Simon Edwards

Sir, Tam Dalyell (Comment, January 6) provides a timely intervention in his open letter to the Prime Minister in the week that we may hear plans for the deployment of British Forces to the Gulf.

I was reflecting with a fellow retired Army officer that we knew of nobody within a wide circle of family, friends or acquaintances who supported a war in Iraq. I am reminded of the sentiment of Major-General Patrick Cordingley, a brigade commander during the Gulf War, that the knowledge that your country is behind you is as important to a serviceman as food and drink.

With this in mind, and given the general overstretch of our Forces, the well-documented shortcomings of our equipment in desert conditions, the failure of new communications systems and no satisfactory explanation for Gulf War syndrome, can there ever have been a more ill-judged expedition?

Yours faithfully,
SIMON EDWARDS,
1 Isabella Place,
79 Church Road,
Combe Down, Bath BA2 5JQ.
sibelieve@hotmail.com
January 6.

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