A QUICK trawl through authoritative international law books highlights urgent questions about President Bush's call for a war against Iraq.

The US is a founder member of the UN and an author of its Charter. It is obligated: (1) to seek a negotiated, peaceful solution to a dispute likely to endanger world peace (Article 33): (2) to refrain from a threat or use of force against the 'territorial integrity or political independence of any state' (Article 2); (3) never to resort to armed force by way of reprisal; (4) not to pre-empt the prime responsibility of the UN Security Council to 'determine the existence of any threat to the peace' and 'to decide what measures shall be taken to maintain or restore international peace and security' (Chapter VII); (5) not to use such methods of warfare, as would be deemed 'inhumane', 'indiscriminate' or 'a disproportionate response'.

Given the jungle of ifs and buts, President Bush ought not to challenge the UN, but work with its 189 other members.

Tony Blair and our Government must now publicly debate the Bush position and not plunge us all into adventuring of such dubious legality. - DJ Whittaker, Richmond.

YOUR comment (Echo, Sept 13) showed an anti-American bias and a disregard of what must be considered.

The United Nations is a talking shop without any substance and many nations' representatives have no love for the Americans and the West in general.

The issue of whether the United Nations is prepared to stand up against the evil of Saddam Hussein is obviously lacking.

It seems the interpretation of justice and its implementation is whether an irrelevant talking shop, which cannot agree with itself and condones the likes of Saddam Hussein, can judge the Americans and their determination to defend themselves.

The United Nations fails to meet its obligations time after time. Robert Mugabe is creating terrible hardship for so many African people yet countries such as South Africa condone his evil and then have the nerve to ask the West to bail them out.

The United Nations will not stop the likes of Saddam or Mugabe, so why should we sit and wait to be insulted, threatened and taken for a ride, simply because your leader writer reckons we should turn the other cheek. - John Young, Crook.

COUNTRYSIDE MARCH

MAY I point out, contrary to some opinion, that the Liberty and Livelihood March on September 22 will be an entirely peaceful demonstration.

Not only hunting, but many farming and rural people, will be hoping to make the Government and public realise that farmers and country people deserve the freedom to earn their livelihoods and follow country pursuits without undue government interference.

Not all country people practice field sports, but most feel that it's wrong for an urban elite to ban pursuits enjoyed for hundreds of years and which generate thousands of jobs and millions of pounds.

In an uncertain world, Britain needs assured supplies of top quality, welfare and environmentally-friendly food, produced with the minimum of food miles and without the abuse of animals, labour or the environment.

British farmers, denied the support enjoyed by their counterparts in almost every other EU country and the United States, are becoming an endangered species: they deserve your protection.

Farmers produce 65 per cent of the nation's food, give rise to thousands of jobs and ancillary industries and care for our countryside. They help to generate billions of pounds for the national economy through sales of livestock and arable produce and by underpinning Britain's tourism industry. Support your local farmer. - J Heslop, Gainford.

MICROCHIPPING

MICROCHIPPING children (Echo, Sept 11) sounds like science fiction and Anne Cassidy should realise that it will not cure her neurotic fears but merely feed them. Knowing where her children are doesn't mean they are safe, only their location.

This over protection seems as much about control as fear. Every caring parent fears for their children, but most wisely allow them the freedom to explore, to learn and become streetwise, not terror stricken. The greatest gifts we can give our children are 'roots and wings'.

Children are embarrassed or irritated by over protection. To be constantly monitored is an intrusive nightmare and will bring on its own neurosis. Even if microchipped, crossing the road is still the greatest danger.

Millions of us have and will continue to survive to adulthood, even those whose parents loved them enough to let them go. Childhood is that magic time without worries or responsibilities.

The only guarantee in life is death. In the meantime, life is meant to be lived, not hidden from. - S Harnby, Stockton.

DRIVING LICENCES

WITH 3,000 deaths on the roads in this country every year and many thousands injured, would it not be sensible to do as many other countries do and ensure that a driving licence contains the driver's blood group? - E Reynolds, Wheatley Hill.

BEEF EXPORTS

I WISH to protest that nothing is being done to restore our beef market.

If it were the other way round, the French would be blockading the ports.

When will Tony Blair wake up? The French have always done exactly what suits them. There is too much talk of this and that, and not enough do this and that. - B Robson, Darlington.