03/01/04

It is all very well for him to say that people in occupied countries become puppets when faced with oppressions.

In occupied Europe during the 1939-45 war, local officials had no option but to obey their conquerors, many of them helping to mitigate the effects of the disaster that had overtaken them.

Petain's Vichy government in the South of France was the classic example of a man who lived in the real world and he protected a large part of France from the worst effects of the Nazi occupation.

Having branded everyone quislings (only used in Norway) and traitors, Mr Dunn turned his vitriol on to politicians.

By far the huge majority of MPs and local councillors render sterling service to the nation. - Hugh Pender, Darlington.

IRAQ

"WE'VE got him,'' said the US general at the press conference following the capture of Saddam Hussein. The problem that the American-led Coalition has to address is what now?

This is a major dilemma for all concerned and has been well reported in The Northern Echo. However, what has not been fully discussed is the extent of the support that was given to this brutal dictator over the past 24 years.

The Soviet Union armed him when he first seized power in 1963, aided without doubt by the CIA and with the support of MI6. When Saddam ordered the invasion of Iran, starting a war that lasted for most of the 1980s and consumed a million lives, the West saw him as a buffer against Khomeini's threat to the Arab states and their oil.

The French sold him aircraft and missiles, trained his pilots and technicians. The US at that time fed battlefield intelligence to his generals, whilst Arab regimes bankrolled his armed forces.

During the campaign against the Kurds, Shia Muslims, Marsh Arabs and some 300,000 suspected political opponents whot were tortured and murdered during the years of terror, the Iraqi government was obviously receiving secret financial support from well-heeled sources.

The salient facts do not make for pleasant consideration nor indeed do the options for the future of the former dictator. The solution perhaps is a trial before a UN-backed international court, presided over by Iraq as well as international judges.

The next question will then be who should be tried alongside Saddam Hussein and what should be the appropriate sentence if found guilty? - Peter Troy, Sedgefield.

MIDDLE EAST

IT is impossible to form opinions without accurate information. As a badly-educated Englishman, I have never been able to understand the problems in the Middle East.

Is it true that Britain double-crossed the Arabs after the First World War and then we bombed them with poison gas.

Tens of thousands died and then we went on to impose a puppet government on them.

We went to war to stop ethnic cleansing in Yugoslavia, yet in Palestine the Jews made up only 20 per cent of the population, and most of these were foreign refugees. They claimed 78 per cent of the land and proceeded to enforce this claim using arms supplied to them by Britain to fight the Nazis.

Ethnic cleansing and other atrocities against the Palestinians have been committed without military intervention by us.

Even today the majority of Israelis are immigrants and get a vote. But until the 80 per cent of the original Palestinians and their descendants also get a vote, then Israel is not a democracy.

The UN is unable to take any real action against Israel because the US has vetoed any action over 30 times.

If this information is accurate then I am not surprised that many Arabs hate us, but unless we admit past mistakes and insist on Israel treating the Palestinians fairly, there will be no peace. - Steve Green, Darlington.

SOHAM MURDERS

ABOUT Maxine Carr, Harry Mead (Echo, Dec 24) says: "Yes she told a lie. A big lie."

Maxine Carr gave a false alibi for Huntley about the killing of two innocent children in Soham.

In one of the accusations of rape made against Huntley, Carr also gave an alibi statement.

Most people with common sense can come to their own conclusions about this alibi statement. Was it another false alibi that saved Huntley from being in prison? If so, then these murders would not have taken place.

The one thing I can agree with Harry Mead about is that I too believe Carr should be allowed to live openly in Grimsby or anywhere she chooses without a change of identity.

It is suggested that giving false alibis is a daily occurrence that does not really matter "but the enormity of Soham virtually demanded that Carr face justice".

What is Harry Mead trying to say? That if only one child was killed it would not have mattered and Carr should have been given a stiff ticking off? - Barry Wood, Edmondsley.

FUEL MIX-UP

WHEN one hears of someone unfortunately putting diesel into a petrol-driven car, or vice versa, one wonders why petrol and diesel caps aren't different shapes so that it is impossible to put the fuel nozzle into the wrong tank. - E Reynolds, Wheatley Hill.

EUROPE

IF Great Britain were put up for sale, then it would have a price tag of five trillion pounds, equating to £85,000 for every man, woman and child in the land.

Even by this Government's capacity for the issuance of irrelevant chaff, this announcement must be worthy of an Oscar for sheer stupidity.

In truth, this Government is fully committed to continuing and bringing to completion the handing over of our nation, lock, stock and barrel, to the EU free of charge.

We would fare no better under a Conservative government as Michael Howard is committed to continued EU membership.

The price for the surrender of Great Britain cannot be measured in money terms. The price we all pay is in terms of loss of freedom, loss of democratic control and, above all, our national identity.

A heavy price indeed to pay for the greed and vanity of establishment politicians. - Dave Pascoe, Press Secretary, Hartlepool Branch, UK Independence Party.