Unjustified war

I refer to 'Freeing the Iraqis' (September 25).

A. Nattrass pleads that too much emphasis has been placed on weapons of mass destruction. He omits to mention that the US and Britain justified the war on Iraq on the grounds that such weapons could be deployed by Iraq at short notice and he also omits to mention that the US chose to ignore (if not condone) the acts of then-president Saddam Hussein as long as he proved useful to the US. So much for justifying the war on the grounds that he was a bad man.

The US funds and supports the Israelis despite their history of terrorism going back to the days of the Stern Gang, which murdered British soldiers who shortly before had helped to free Jews from concentration camps.

The US did provide aid to Britain during World War II but at a price and it continued to trade with Germany until Pearl Harbour. How many people are aware that the US insisted that Britain should not develop commercial aircraft until after the war so that when it ended the US had a monopoly on their production?

Anyone who thinks that the US has not sought to impose its way of life on others by force might think differently after reading a recently published book on the Vietnam War, entitled 'Choosing War'.

The way forward is not through independent action but through the United Nations. Let us give thanks to countries like France and Germany.

COLIN CAMPBELL, Mid-Levels