Madam, - The British Labour peer Baroness Helena Kennedy, QC says majority legal opinion is that the war against Iraq was illegal. "Going to war was entirely political, not legal", she says.
Robin Cook, MP has called on the attorney general to explain publicly his advice to the British government. On top of this, we have Hans Blix, the chief United Nations weapons inspector in the run-up to the Iraq war, telling us that this war was unnecessary and illegal.
He says: "I cannot reconcile it with article 51 of the UN Charter, which allows self-defence against armed attack. You cannot say the supposed gathering danger was an armed attack. Nobody in the vicinity was scared. It was a misjudgment." He goes on to ask, "Does India have a right to bomb Pakistan?" The bellicose approach of Bush and Blair, he says, resembled the witch-hunts of the past. "They were so damned convinced that if they saw a broomstick in the corner, you were a witch. I am not aware of any evidence they came forward with that still stands."
It is difficult to see how Blair and Bush can justify their behaviour on moral or legal grounds. Quite clearly, they had no right to attack Iraq. As predicted by those who opposed the invasion, thousands have died and Iraq is in total chaos. There is no end to the carnage in sight. So many young US soldiers have also died there - and for what? There were no weapons of mass destruction to be found.
It is obvious that the real reason for the war was control of the oil reserves and the establishment of US and British influence in the region. To secure this objective, it was necessary that Saddam Hussein be removed from power. You will notice that there is no US attempt to impose democracy and freedom on China or North Korea, both of which are cruel dictatorships. Did the US show much interest when the most unspeakable genocide took place in Rwanda?
The appalling treatment of the prisoners in the hell that is Guantanamo Bay is a moral outrage, a crime against humanity. And the United States government has the nerve to lecture the world about "human rights"! It should be condemned in the strongest terms by the entire civilised world. What has our Government to say about the barbaric treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay?
We were told by the US that the people of Iraq would be dancing in the streets when that country was "liberated". Well, to quote Hans Blix once again: "People aren't dancing in the streets; they are killing in the streets." The people of Iraq do not want the US-led occupation of their country. - Yours, etc.,
ANTHONY REDMOND, North Great George's Street, Dublin 1.