THE Iraq Inquiry is a waste of time and money. The British people seem to think that there should be public inquiries into everything from international catastrophes to snow on the roads.

War is not a game of tennis – it doesn’t have rules and an umpire. We are still trying to apply civilised thinking to an uncivilised situation.

The government (or any individual in it) should not be blamed for wars or casualties of war. Any decisions it takes will always be criticised later – hindsight is a wonderful thing.

Saddam Hussein did invade Kuwait, he did gas vast numbers of his own population and he did boast about his weaponry. The UN stood by and did nothing except wring its hands.

Yes, I do have sympathy for the victims of the conflict, but no one is conscripted any more. If anyone doesn’t agree with war and doesn’t want to be killed in action then don’t join the Armed Forces.

The families of those who do join should respect their decision and accept the risks. It is unfair to blame everyone else and expect the minutiae of rationale to be dragged out and dissected.

Parliament, legally elected and containing members from other parties besides the government, collectively made the decision over Iraq. We should accept it.

Yvonne Benn, Burneston, Bedale, North Yorkshire.

IT is interesting that Tony Blair sees the decisions he made over the Iraq invasion as totally justified. The main reason now is connected with Saddam Hussein’s intentions if he had managed to avoid action by the US and its allies. The supposition is that by now he would have acquired the capability to pose a threat to others in the region.

In fact, Mr Blair seems to be saying that the action then actually added to our security now. It is a clever argument, but it doesn’t wash. If we had not attacked, but anticipated that later on he would have harboured aggressive intentions it would have been legal to have imposed an arms embargo on Iraq.

I note that Mr Blair places a great deal of store by Saddam Hussein’s contempt for UN resolutions. The blindspot is, of course, that Israel, with US connivance, has ignored the intentions of the international community to curb its ambition to rub Palestine off the face of the map as an independent sovereign power.

This is a saga which will run and run. We have no right to interfere with the Arab countries of the Middle East, but we have not refrained from doing so since the end of the Ottoman Empire.

Geoffrey Bulmer, Billingham.