12/04/03

Thank heavens for President George W Bush. I am so pleased that the Americans are our big brother as it seems that we are the only two nations in this crazy old world with any common sense. - Christopher Wardell, Darlington.

I WONDER how many people realise that Iraq is just the first on the list of countries to be invaded because its leaders are not compliant enough.

I would put Syria next on the list, so those who want to applaud attacks on other countries need to get to know the name of the leader of that country, what he looks like, that Damascus is the capital, and practice their hatred on him.

I am sure that George Orwell, if he had lived, would have been able to write a wonderful parody of what is happening today.

Can I say to any tyrant or dictator who reads this edition of The Northern Echo, if he wants to keep his regime secure all he needs to do is dance to the tune the US wants him to and he will be safe.

In fact I am sure that he will be able to buy bigger and better torture chambers. Only the awkward squad will make a fuss about it.

With the United Nations brushed aside, the vexing problem of finding pretexts for taking action is no longer a must.

Do the enthusiasts for war and carnage remember what the pretext was for UN resolutions against Iraq in the past?

Once the mission became liberation it was a good enough reason to rally to the cause?

There seems to be one snag to the way they think they have got it all fixed. There is now so much more access to information and many people have a much more sceptical frame of mind. Some of us are going to continue being critical.

How inconvenient, I imagine the Government thinking. - G Bulmer, Billingham.

ARE we sure that the statue of Saddam Hussein that was pulled down was the real Saddam statue and not a lookalike statue? - CT Riley, Spennymoor.

THE "anti-war" demonstrations throughout the world may have some effect in the future and make people realise that no one wins a war, although the winners are usually better off than the losers.

In 1918, the winners returned to this country as a "Land Fit For Heroes" as the then Prime Minister said, but the truth was that those heroes joined the dole queues which went round the block and the majority of the population were living below the breadline.

So in a country which had the largest empire the world had seen and won the war, poverty was rife. In Germany, who had lost the war, their currency was so devalued that it became worthless, sowing the seeds for the Second World War.

Fortunately, after the Second World War, America was so wealthy that it could afford to help out financially.

Since humans are the most powerful species on the planet and no other living creature can control their expansion, nature will ensure that they destroy themselves, and that is coming increasingly closer with the widespread number of atomic bombs owned by many nations, some who are opposed to each other as with India and Pakistan.

The United Nations should be given a powerful fighting force greater than any other on the planet and have the might to step into small wars before they escalate into world wars.

Conflicts such as Kuwait and the Falklands should be left to that force and national conflicts should not grow, as happened in 1939. - E Reynolds, Wheatley Hill.

CRITICISMS of American policy in the Middle East are largely variations on two themes: 1) that America has designs on the region's oil reserves, and 2) it is rabidly Zionist - determined to back Israel no matter what.

The critics, in fact, think they can have it both ways.

True, America is a loyal ally of Israel, but Israel has no oil or in fact any significant material resources - economic or strategic - at all.

What she does have and what makes her unique in the Middle East, is a stable, functioning democratic government and society, and that may be her long-term historical role - as a source of wholesome contagion from which democracy and respect for the rule of law spread throughout the region.

As for the United States, there are no ulterior motives there, just a genuine concern for the welfare of all the peoples of the Middle East.

As for her critics, I was being kind calling them that - their output seldom rises above the level of childish scurrilities. - T Kelly, Crook.

IS there any truth to the rumour that once the war with Iraq is over America plans to divide Iraq into three parts - leaded, unleaded and diesel? - HE Smith, Spennymoor.

BILLIONS of pounds are being spent on the war in Iraq. The question has already been asked, without any clear answer given, where is all the money coming from?

How is Britain going to suffer as a result of all this money being poured into bombs and aid? How much deeper into debt will we fall?

Agree or disagree with the war, at least our leaders have had the choice and ability to spend the nation's money and borrow in our name, as they have seen fit. If we had been in the euro, would that freedom of choice have existed? I think not. Rather, Tony Blair would have had to go begging to the European Central Bank where all our national funds would have been merged with the rest. He would no doubt have come home empty handed, his knuckles rapped, for wanting to spend European money on a cause much of Europe does not support.

Perhaps we should all make the most of our financial freedom while we still have it, even if it is in such a terrible cause. - EA Moralee, Billingham.