WAR AGAINST IRAQ

THE solution to the problem of whether or not Saddam Hussein has concealed weapons of mass destruction is clear to me.

We have currently engaged a couple of hundred weapons inspectors to search for devices that Saddam has probably spent the last 12 years concealing. To create the correct perspective, Iraq is of a similar size to France. The likelihood of 200 people led by a lawyer locating anything but their next hotel seems low to me.

We currently have a mandate from the UN to place weapons inspectors in Iraq. However, I wonder, does it specify how many?

There are around 250,000 US and British soldiers on the borders of Iraq doing little more than sitting on their hands and painting tanks yellow. Could we not mark their helmets with the logo UN Weapons Inspector, line them up at one end of Iraq in a skirmish line and then set them off walking up the length of the country? Using this method, they would probably find every item ever lost in Iraq.

Am I missing something vital? Is this solution too easy? - Aidan Ruff, Ellingham, Northumberland.

AS President Bush plans the bombing and invasion of Iraq without UN support this week, TV news described opinion polls here as 'terrible'.

They hide the actual figures which undermine their propaganda and their attitude. Eight or nine out of ten people still reject the forthcoming bloodshed.

This is despite the barrage of lies and hypocrisy, dressed up as morality. Tony Blair's position as President Bush's mouthpiece has degraded our democracy.

Most national newspapers and TV follow the lies, with honourable exceptions. The barrage will become a blizzard as the US Pentagon takes control of all media when the so-called 'war' starts.

When their contemptuous lies are openly revealed, Mr Blair never admits it, he just presses on to the next one. After the outrageous 'dossier' supposedly justifying the slaughter was shown to be a 12-year-old student thesis, we were urged by 'loyal' ministers to trust the Prime Minister.

Almost the only ones to trust Mr Blair are the sick supporters of the US project, their followers and the hooligan element who greet peace campaigners in Darlington with an aggressive 'kill them all'.

The one ray of light is that a vast majority do reject bloodthirsty US plans to grab Iraq's oil and expand their domination of the whole Middle East. The really terrible consequence for Mr Blair and his media propagandists is that a new Prime Minister is needed now and the troops brought home. Hopefully the Labour Party is still able to control a maverick, undemocratic and nationary leader. - Richard Laver, Darlington.

HAVING recently visited the battlefields of WWI in Belgium (where my father was wounded in 1916) I can understand the Belgian people, who suffered such hardships in two world wars, in not wanting a war with Iraq.

However, I find the conduct of Chancellor Schroeder of Germany, and President Chirac of France, reprehensible, Schroeder because only by climbing onto the "anti-war" bandwagon was he and his party able to stay in power, and Chirac because he wants to maintain the huge trade links with Iraq.

It would appear that Germany and France are playing political football with world peace. - G Richardson, Byers Green.

POST OFFICES

I AM most concerned about the future of our local Post Offices. As many of you will be aware the Government is currently circulating information regarding the change of method of payment of state pensions. It is their intention to withdraw pension books in favour of direct payments into a bank account. There is however the option of a Post Office Card which allows you to continue to cash your pension at the Post Office.

Many Post Offices are the heart of our community. They provide excellent services such as payment of bills, savings schemes for household utilities and, perhaps most importantly, a social meeting place for many elderly people, who look forward to their weekly visit there.

Anxious that this service is under threat of losing custom, I decided to opt for the Post Office Card and rang the number given. I was more than surprised at the bias shown by the person taking my call and I felt under pressure to accept the bank system.

I could well imagine many elderly people agreeing to their suggestions and feel this is most unfair.

If you care about retaining our local amenities please be warned and do not bow to this governmental pressure which eventually could lead to the loss of your Post Office.

Please join me in ensuring the future of this invaluable service by continuing to have your pension paid at your local Post Office. - Mrs D Smith, Belmont, Durham.

CHEMIST SHOPS

IF the threat to 6,000 small pharmacies goes ahead, it will be one more nail in the coffin of many rural communities.

From much of the countryside, one local service after another has disappeared or been cut back on, village schools, shops, post offices, affordable housing for young people, adequate public transport, employment - the list just goes on.

A way of life going back centuries, the true spiritual heart of old England is being systematically done to death, this with no evident opposition from those two-self-proclaimed bastions of traditional rural life, the Conservative Party and the Countryside Alliance. True, the latter are as keen as ever to kill defenceless wildlife but not to defend real country people from the menace remorselessly overtaking them. - T Kelly, Crook.