Madam, - Charles Krauthammer tells us (Opinion, November 20th) that the "root problem" of the horrendous shambles which is Iraq today "lies with Iraqis and their political culture". This is surely Mr Krauthammer at his most bizarre - or is he just being disingenuous? For even he must have grasped by now that the root problem lies at the feet of Bush, Blair and their acolytes and associates.
By their chicanery and megalomania they have brought this once prosperous country to a state of total chaos, with its economy and infrastructure in ruins and hundreds of thousands of innocent people dead and mutilated. The ultimate outcome of this insane escapade is too terrible to contemplate.
Mr Krauthammer asks: "Are the Arabs intrinsically incapable of democracy as the realists imply?" It is all too clear that they do not want the type of so-called democracy that Bush and Blair are trying to force on the Iraqis, and indeed the Afghans also. Peoples cannot be bombed and bludgeoned into democracy. The lessons of history are there for even the most stupid politicians to learn, but tragically they are ignored time and time again.
The Bush/Blair "coalition of the willing" must also bear responsibility for the $20 billion of Iraqi money squandered and stolen by US and other war-profiteering companies while it was under the "control" of the Coalition Provisional Authority. This has to be one of the most despicable financial scandals of all time.
It looks as if Saddam Hussein is to pay dearly for his loathsome crimes against the Iraqi people, and rightly so. But when is justice to catch up with the warmongers Bush and Blair, and their sordid associates? Equity, morality and justice demand that they too stand trial for the heinous war crimes of which they are undoubtedly guilty. - Yours, etc,
L.G. KILGALLEN, Crosthwaite Park South, Dun Laoghaire.