SADDAM HUSSEIN: SADDAM Hussein has been captured. His future depends on what is decided by the forces occupying his country.

I expect him to receive the same mercy as he meted out to others. We see a side of human nature in all these dealings which highlights what we are capable of as human beings.

I have never been on his side. I wanted to see him defeated when he attacked Iran. I wanted him prosecuted when he had an Observer journalist executed. That was before his invasion of Kuwait and fall from grace as a recipient of arms supplies.

I disagreed with the engagement of the navy in the Gulf of Persia to keep open the shipping lanes to Iraq when it had attacked Iran.

Of course that country is a better place without a tyrant such as Saddam Hussein. He should be tried under Iraqi laws and punished under their penal code.

But none of this justifies the invasion of Iraq by the coalition forces. In a fair world, the occupation would have been declared illegal. It is a scandal that the occupation is a cover for privatising enterprises in the country, and awarding reconstruction contracts to US firms. The whole operation is one of economic imperialism.

No weapons of mass destruction have been found. Even if some vestige of evidence were uncovered, it was not imperative to attack without delay in a pre-emptive way because of an imagined capacity of Iraqi forces to invade anyone else. In a just world there would be an international inquiry into the conduct of the US and UK administrations.

I will be delighted to see Saddam Hussein go down, but as matters stand it will be victors' justice. Mankind has not advanced since the dark ages in the grand scheme of politics. - Geoffrey Bulmer, Billingham.

NO doubt the all conquering western authorities, notably the US and the UK, won't want Saddam to stand trial, if only because it would show them up for what they are.

A bunch of self-serving, self-promotional, hypocritical condescending expedients who supported this tyrant as and when it suited them, notably against other oppressive monsters. Notably those in Iran.

Contemptible or what? - AP Kirk, Middlesbrough.

EUROPE

WE are constantly brow-beaten by this Government and the pro-Europeans regarding the safety and necessity of joining the single currency and selling our liberty and ability to govern ourselves. Do the British people really want to be led by the nose by Tony Blair into this situation?

We are told that the new constitution is nothing to worry about and it is just a tidying-up exercise. But is that really the case?

Article 59 of this constitution provides for the withdrawal of any country but, significantly, it also states that withdrawal is only allowed if the majority of the other members agree to the withdrawal.

Can anyone really see the other members agreeing to the golden cow leaving their ranks? I think not.

These europhiles also say that it must be a good organisation otherwise why are these other countries clamouring to join. Well, perhaps the fact that these countries, like Poland, will never, for the foreseeable future, become positive contributors has a lot to do with it.

If you had the opportunity to join a club, which agreed to give you millions a year for the foreseeable future, what would you do? - Colin Ward, Spennymoor.

WE would do well to remember how and why the European Union arrived where it is as the usual tortuous negotiations are gone through to bring more countries into the Union.

It was only in the second half of the 20th century that Italy, Spain, Greece and Germany developed democratic systems of government. It was in this climate that people like Churchill and Bevin in the UK explored the possibility of an institution that would enable a peaceful co-operative Europe where individuals would be fully respected.

The experienced and understanding Ted Heath, on becoming Prime Minister, led Britain into the Common Market.

It would have been against all human experience to have got everything right and indeed we never will. However, what was achieved was very much better than what went before. So much so that neighbouring countries felt the need to be part of the European Community.

Other areas of the world noted the economic progress that had been made and the respect for the human condition. They have gone some way to emulating the European success.

What is more, it is an outward looking Union that plays many unsung roles in the wider world.

The adversarial political system that we have had since the early 19th century does not help us deal with situations that require a wide point of view. We need to get away from playing tennis with narrow issues and to keep the founders' aims and objectives in view in order that we may play a constructive role in a Europe that continues to be a force for peace in the world. - Bill Morehead, Darlington.

REGIONAL GOVERNMENT

THE recent report highlighting the extent to which the North-East is lagging behind other UK regions made for depressing reading (Echo, Dec 16).

In important areas such as economic performance, skills and training, and waste recycling, we are falling behind. We have the worst average health in England.

It is clear that the current muddle of Whitehall bureaucrats and North-East quangos can't sort the mess out. Neither can the 20-plus local authorities achieve sufficient co-ordination to get to grips with the problems.

The answer is clearly an elected regional assembly to champion the cause of the North-East, and to co-ordinate a proper response to the region's ills. The status quo is failing the people of the North-East, and potentially blighting the life chances of another generation of children. I hope we have the confidence to grasp the opportunity to change when the referendum comes later next year. - Coun Nick Wallis, Darlington.

CAPITAL PUNISHMENT

IN reply to Jack Stevens (Echo, Dec 10), as you believe, all murderers should live their lives to the full.

Murderers should be put to death, chopped up and fed to the crows. They are heartless people who not only take lives, making families suffer, but they also even make their own families suffer.

If a murderer is put to death for killing, he will think on that and that may save someone from being murdered.

There is more violence in this country now. The last 20 years have been worse than the last 100 years.

With government after government changing good laws for bad and stopping hanging, that was the worst law ever passed.

All men are sinners. Stopping hanging does not make man any better. - TW Armstrong, Seaham.