IRAQ: WHY aren't the troops brought out of Iraq?

I agree that Saddam had to go, but surely now the Iraqis are turning on the British.

Is it going to be another Ireland or Vietnam? When will a halt be called?

The coalition freed the Iraqis from Saddam and what have they got in return? Murder.

Not all the Iraqi people are like these savage murderers but we need to take stock of the situation - and the MoD needs to tell the truth about events over there, instead of sidestepping and making excuses.

We only know what we read in the newspapers and hear on the news. The Government must look after our troops properly because they don't at the moment, either here or abroad. - B Storey, Trimdon Village.

HOW dare Tony Blair express his sympathy for the latest British forces deaths in Iraq, when it was he who signed their death warrants to boost his own megalomania.

While we should all be proud of our fighting forces and give them our support, the politicians who sent them to this futile war should be sacked and banned from ever standing for Parliament again.

In the past, governments have fallen due to various amorous liaisons but none have ever been guilty of killing 43 British troops (at the time of writing).

My thoughts and tears are with those families whose loved ones have paid the ultimate sacrifice on the say so of an egotistical man. - Mrs O Sewell, Crook.

CAN the abbreviation WMD now be taken to represent Weapons of Mass Deception? - Alan Kelly, Ferryhill.

POLICE

IT'S nice to read that we have got two community wardens in Richmondshire, which is a massive area.

So once again we are charged a fortune for police and fobbed off with two wardens which, due to the size of the area, we in Colburn will probably never see, just like the police.

The police seem as though they want to distance themselves from the public even more and think they are far too important to be seen walking the beat.

It is time we got together and demanded the service we pay for. - T Amos, Colburn.

DAVID Blunkett's idea of allowing foreign police officers to apply for jobs in this country may have some good results.

If chief constables here were elected for a fixed term as in America, there is no doubt that when their four-year term is drawing to a close they would want the general public to know and see that they had conducted their force in a right way and kept the criminals down and ensured that law and order was supreme.

Those that did not conduct an effective and efficient force would lose their jobs.

The fiasco in the Cleveland police force could never happen, with the cost of millions of pounds of ratepayers money disappearing to no avail. - E Reynolds, Wheatley Hill.

EUROPE

THOSE who claim Britain's independence and sovereignty are under threat because the draft European convention reaffirms that European law overrides English and Scottish law are 40 years out of date.

In 1964, even before the UK started negotiations to join up with other European countries, a decision of the European Court of Justice confirmed this principle.

This does not appear to have caused any damage to the soul of any of the EU member states, including us.

The convention is likely to propose limiting the powers of European Union institutions by putting them on a firm constitutional basis.

But the main problem about Europe is not being tackled, which is to strengthen democratic participation in a people's Europe. There has been a continuous fall in turnouts at European elections since 1979.

At local government level we have suffered this for many years, with this year's turnaround being, it seems, mainly due to new voting methods rather than enchantment with politicians and politics.

Tony Blair is the first Prime Minister since Edward Heath to take a constructive position on Europe. Hopefully he will use the opportunity of the Convention negotiations which are just getting underway to renew democracy at the European Union level.

For Britain, the danger is not federalism but isolation. How can Britain maximise its influence? Certainly not by sitting on the sidelines and crying into our beer, as so many of the antis would have us do. How many times are we told you have to be in it to win it? The same goes for Europe. - R Ashby, Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

ROYAL PROTECTION

IN light of the civil police proving their inadequacies to fully protect our Royal Family, I suggest that during in-house functions, or those that take place within the grounds of Royal residences, a company drawn from one of the battalions of Foot Guards should be placed as security for the Royal Family and their guests. - GH Grieveson, Richmond.