22/11/03

I would rather trust the protection of this nation to the Americans because the French and Germans are, as usual, sitting on the fence, waiting to pick up the pieces.

People such as Glen Reynolds ignored Hitler and Stalin and even condoned their tyranny to satisfy their pacifist ideology. Millions paid with mass slaughter and the total destruction of their nation.

While the preachers were preaching, people were dying.

There are many issues which need to be faced by the world, but accusing the US of being the cause is not only insulting to Americans but all those who are prepared to fight such evil as Saddam, al Qaida and those evil enough to butcher, terrorise and threaten those who would like to get on with their lives.

The United Nations is a mish-mash of self-interests who cannot even agree on a policy that will make the world a better, safer place to live in and at the moment it seems we are safer relying on the Americans. - John Young, Crook.

I CANNOT believe that a man who should know his home region better than most, could think that the people of the North-East would unequivocally thank him for inviting his little friend Geordie to play in his backyard.

Yesterday I was planning to go to Sedgefield village, where I lived for over ten years. My daughter had even sent me a lovely big protest banner all the way from Scotland.

Unfortunately, I would have been stopped at a road block and would have had to walk perhaps miles to the parish church where I once worshipped.

Most importantly, I could not run the risk, nor do my family wish me to, of being gunned down by a trigger happy M15 or - more likely - CIA agent.

I have two major gripes. Firstly, the Bush administration may be perpetuating the great American dream of freedom for all but, I have to submit, their current foreign, ecological and trade policies tell us otherwise.

Secondly, for a party which used to pride itself on a maxim "all for one and one for all", New Labour appears to be walking the slippery slope to dictatorship. I once prided myself as being a Socialist supporter. Never again will I vote for a party which wants to turn our democracy into a republic. - Anne Wright, Durham.

TONY Blair and George Bush are working together to help each other, which could benefit both countries. Only a secret few know what is going on behind closed doors. The public just hopes for good news, when it happens. - N Tate, Darlington.

NOWADAYS any person or even country who does not behave as America wishes is branded a terrorist. In Iraq, for example, the Americans constantly say they are fighting terrorists.

During the 1939-45, war the German armies swarmed all over Europe occupying many countries.

Strangely, when the Iraqis kill American soldiers who are occupying their country, they are called terrorists.

It is obvious the Iraq situation has gone horribly wrong and recent visits to Baghdad by journalists report that this city is now a massive American fortress with miles of concrete and barbed wire to protect their huge army there.

It is clear from TV pictures that the city of Baghdad is wrecked and very little is being done to rebuild it.

The so-called experts say we can't pull out now so the killing will go on and innocent people will die.

It seems the British forces in the south of Iraq are having more success with the locals, but by association with the Americans, we will doubtless suffer more casualties.

As I see it, the Americans are reluctant to depart Iraq for two reasons.

The primary one is to protect their share of Iraqi oil and secondly, they fear the emergence of an Islamic state similar to Iran. - Hugh Pender, Darlington.

IT must be around 20 years now ago since I last read such stereotyped, anti-Americanism, as was the case in the contribution from Glen Reynolds (Echo, Nov 17).

It was the same old tired clichs that we used to read in reference to President Reagan.

When Glen Reynolds referred to "the free market capitalism of the right-wing politicians", I thought that Marxism actually lived within the Labour Party but he was soon back on message with New Labour double-speak when he mentioned "how lucky we are to have someone of the character of Tony Blair etc, etc".

I came to two conclusions after this article. Firstly, Glen Reynolds is indulging in this immature, corny, Bush bashing in order to try and deflect attention from the clear fact that it was his man, Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair, who, rightly or wrongly, took us to war and who has a very close relationship with the historical bogey-man of the Left, namely a Republican President.

Secondly, if this blatant anti-Americanism is typical of the tone of advice that the Bishop of Durham is receiving on World Development, then it leaves myself, as a member of the Church of England, just a little concerned. - Michael Dixon, Chairman, Sunderland South Conservative Association.

WHILE UK targets are being blown up by terrorists, and British people being murdered in Turkey, anti-war protestors still gathered to march against President Bush and our Government.

When asked why they were still 'campaigning' when such a tragedy had occurred only hours earlier, their reply was too insane to print.

These activists should be arrested and locked up for treason and sentenced to long custodial sentences, so that the world does not have to see such embarrassing scenes of insanity on the streets of Great Britain ever again.

This dreadful bombing in Turkey has only made the American and British alliance stronger, and it is about time that we hit back with our full military might. - Christopher Wardell, Darlington.

AMONG the many slanderous allegations made by the pro-war lobby is the accusation that we who oppose the so-called "War on Terror" are anti-American and that we support the likes of Saddam and bin Laden, or believe that nothing should have been done about them.

We have nothing against the people of America, and it should be remembered that millions of Americans share our views.

We do not support Saddam or bin Laden. The difference is that we never did. As everyone knows by now, Saddam was armed and supported by the West, and encouraged to go to war with Iran, and bin Laden was originally trained and armed as a "freedom fighter" by the CIA.

This does not, of course, mean that we should wring our hands and do nothing.

Indeed, it could reasonably be argued that we have a duty to destroy the monsters we helped to create. But the "War on Terror" is simply creating more monsters.

Think again, Mr Bush. There is no military solution to terrorism. - Pete Winstanley, Durham.