Hear All Sides

WAR ON TERRORISM

IN your otherwise good and informative editorial (Echo, Sept 26) I was concerned at the sentence: "If military action is less precise and incurs serious loss of life among innocent Afghan people, then the coalition will come under severe strain."

This thinking implies the war against the Taliban will be fought in a similar manner to the European campaign in the Second World War.

The American armed forces also fought a campaign in the Pacific with the assistance of Australia and New Zealand.

The success of the campaign relied on capturing, from the Japanese enemy, islands with airfield facilities. It was a slow process but eventually the American forces were poised to invade Japan.

Cynics have smirked at President Bush's Dead or Alive speech, but we should remember American history informs us that Wells Fargo conquered the Wild West using staging posts and fresh horses.

There is no reason to doubt the Pentagon will subdue the Taliban and give the Afghan people the freedom they deserve. - Thomas Conlon, Kirk Merrington.

A RECENT meeting of Teesside Against War Seeking Justice Not Vengeance was held in Middlesbrough. A large cross section of local people, including Muslims, Christians, Quakers and those who do not follow any religion, declared their solidarity with all Muslims living in the UK at this time. The group agreed the following statement:

"We are deeply disturbed to learn of threats and assaults against Muslim people following the terrible events of September 11, 2001 and the loss of life that accompanied them. We do not believe that vengeance should ever be visited on the innocent, either in acts of war or in racist attacks.

"Instead, we believe that all communities have the right to live together in peace, with mutual respect and tolerance, and without fear, in order to fulfil their own potential and to contribute to our collective well-being and wisdom. Our hope is that we can actively use these events to draw our various communities closer together in mutual understanding, rather than allowing these atrocities to divide us."

We urge others on Teesside to join us. - Bill Wennington, Teesside Against War Seeking Justice not Vengeance, Billingham.

AS an ex-soldier, I was pleased to read the letter from E Radford (HAS, Oct 2) a 93-year-old veteran of two world wars, who writes like a Christian and speaks of peace, not war. In contrast, on the same page, the Rev Peter Mullen writes like a religious fanatic who glorifies war, more like a mad mullah.

It is usually the old soldiers who are against war, and those who don't intend to fight themselves who are all for it.

According to Mr Mullen, all Irishmen released from prison under the Good Friday Peace Agreement should be rounded up and put back in prison. A good way to star World War Three! Would Mr Mullen like to round them up?

Congratulations to E Radford. I hope you receive your telegram from the Queen. - Brian York, Wheatley Hill.

THE UN resolution to freeze all assets of terrorist organisations is to be applauded. It has taken a long time to be approved.

Does this now mean that all the money subscribed by the Americans to the IRA is now unavailable to them?

One must think that if an organisation had blown up a hotel in which the American president was staying, it would have evinced more action than the Brighton bomb which nearly killed Margaret Thatcher and other Tories. - E Reynolds, Wheatley Hill.

THERE are few constants during an emergency, but one is that children - the most innocent and vulnerable of all - are among the first to suffer.

This is clearly the case in Afghanistan where, of the estimated 7.5 million Afghans who may have to rely on aid to survive the combined threats of war, drought and winter this year, 70 per cent will be children and women and a total of 20 per cent will be children under the age of five.

Unicef, the United Nations Children's Fund, has just launched an emergency appeal for £24m to provide life-saving medicines, water purification supplies, nutritional supplements for malnourished youngsters, oral rehydration salts to combat deadly diarrhoea and other relief items, including blankets, clothing, water containers and education kits for makeshift classrooms.

Already, a series of Unicef relief flights into the region is under way and these supplies will be positioned throughout the region close to the Afghan borders, to be available if a crisis develops at the borders, or otherwise to be trucked into Afghanistan as soon as the situation stabilises and borders reopen.

Unicef is determined to get these supplies to the children who need them, wherever we are able to reach them. Without help, millions of children simply will not make it through the winter. We ask your readers to please find it in their hearts to support our efforts to help the innocent children of Afghanistan.

Just £25 will provide enough blankets to keep 36 children warm at night. £46 provides basic health needs for 200 people for three months, £75 will provide 800 children with a litre of clean water. Donations will be gratefully received. - Louis Coles, Regional Fundraising Manager, North-East, Unicef Afghanistan Crisis Appeal, PO Box 1800, Sheffield, S6 4UG.