It is said that the Archbishop of Canterbury would prefer not to hold a Thanksgiving Service to commemorate victory in Iraq in case this should come to be seen as an occasion for triumph.

Of course, it is likely that the Archbishop has been misquoted here, there and everywhere, but I would like to suggest that there are many reasons why we should thank God for victory in Iraq. This short war was, in my view, a clear triumph of good over evil. Let us examine a few of the facts.

The Saddam regime was, by all accounts, one of the most unjust, wicked and tyrannical despotisms in history. He murdered and tortured his own people. It now becomes clear the extent of his sponsorship of terrorism worldwide. Saddam Hussein was a thoroughly bad thing, and his removal should be a cause of rejoicing among all men of good will.

Nothing for which to give thanks? Well, I could suggest a few things. First, thanks to the campaign of the Allies, the Kurdish people have been allowed to re-establish themselves in the north of the country - after their slaughter by gassing by Saddam in the 1990s. These Kurds are now relatively prosperous and they have reinvigorated their own democratic state: they have freedom of the press and an independent judiciary which can boast, among other blessings, many female judges. You would think, wouldn't you, that The Guardian newspaper, Radio Four and other bastions of radical sentiment would be grateful for such realised freedoms?

Let me list a few of the things that the Archbishop might consider giving thanks for. First, the Marsh Arabs - persecuted and deprived by Saddam for many years - have their country back, and there are positive indications that their land might be re-irrigated by - guess who? - the British and the Americans. And then much is made of the religious context, but consider this: it is only after the triumph of the Allied forces that Shia Muslims have been allowed to hold their ceremonies in Iraq.

It should be said also that we ought to give thanks for the fact that there were relatively few casualties of the war among out own troops. I love to reflect on the faces of those BBC correspondents who threatened us with the tribulation of a war that would go on for years: these knee-jerk anti-American sycophants were no better than "Comical Ali" - the Iraqi Minister of Information.

And then, of course, it is widely alleged among the illiterate left-wing press that the war was "all about oil". Yes, it was about oil. And the fact that the Allies have liberated the oil fields means that the stranglehold on world oil prices by Saudi Arabia has been broken. The people who will benefit from this are those in the impoverished countries who can least afford the tariffs charged by the Saudis. And, if the price of oil comes down worldwide, then we are all in benefit - none more so than the impoverished people of the Third World.

War is always a last resort and a nasty business, but I think that going to war against Saddam was our duty. We should be proud of the fact that we have done our duty and disdainful of those who make ill-educated and unpatriotic noises against it.

* Peter Mullen is Rector of St Michael's, Cornhill, in the City of London, and Chaplain to the Stock Exchange.