From: Peter Shutt, Mayfield Avenue, Bailiff Bridge, Brighouse, West Yorkshire.
Sir, – The contribution by Andrew Rawnsley in last Friday's (January 17) Yorkshire Post endeavours to explain the reluctance on behalf of the British public to throw their support behind Tony Blair in the build up to war with Iraq, mainly because o
f concerns about President Bush's motives.
I believe there are also other important factors at work.
Tony Blair's wholehearted support of George Bush helps him enormously in legitimising the American action in the eyes of the American people. In that sense, Tony Blair becomes a puppet of the American government.
The fact that Europe and many other pro-Western nations are seen to be keeping their heads well below the parapet in failing to offer the same level of support leaves Mr Blair somewhat isolated.
This raises serious questions in the minds of many on the wisdom of going to war in support of America without an international consensus and a supportive UN resolution.
Tony Blair's domestic track record is, regardless of all his spin, littered with failed policies. Education, transport, health, law and order, immigration, and drugs, to mention but a few.
The fear is that Tony Blair's rush to support Bush in the matter of Iraq is leading him towards yet another policy failure and Britain into an even greater mess.
That the majority of the British public are unconvinced of the need to become involved in this war is not surprising. It is not a level playing field in the Middle East. America is regarded as satanic by the bulk of the Arab countries.
If Tony Blair launches Britain into war under these circumstances and against the wishes of the British public, where lies democracy then? We may have concerns about George Bush's motives but Tony Blair's wisdom and judgment remain deeply suspect.
From: Don Burslam, Dewsbury.
Sir, – What a ridiculous letter from Alec Aspinall (January 16). He refers to the "appeasement" of Saddam Hussein but I wasn't aware that there has been or is any such appeasement.
On the contrary, rigorous sanctions have been in force ever since the end of the Gulf War resulting in the death of thousands of innocent citizens of Iraq. Even before the shooting officially stars there, US aircraft and ours have been carrying out bombing strikes over Iraq. Mr Aspinall's attempt to equate the situation with Hitler in the Thirties is fallacious.
These attempts at all-aged historical parallels crop up regularly but the circumstances are never quite the same. One would have thought that the nuclear might of the US might be sufficient deterrent in itself to keep Saddam in line without the completely illegal and immoral action which is contemplated.
In my view, this whole crisis has arisen because of the understandable but wholly misguided feelings of vengefulness after the events of 9/11. Nobody has succeeded in linking Saddam with that outrage.
