ANOTHER BUSH/USA/ISRAEL HATER

l RAY Fleming is, I am afraid, just another Bush/USA/Israel hater, who will use any excuse, no matter how phony, to denigrate, the American President. Had Mr Fleming taken off his blinkers and actually read what Mr Bush said on Iraq, whilst it would put a large dent into his prejudices he might write factually instead of the anti–Bush fiction he is so prone to. So let me explain to him once and for all:
The government of the USA being the world's superpower employs a different set of parameters to other countries. They view the world holistically, whereas we see it parochially. After 9/11, their government immediately set about identifying those countries who were responsible for this terrible crime. They identified a trio of terrorist countries, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Syria, any of whom would provide succour and support to Al Qaeda. It therefore became obvious to them (and Tony Blair) that a large military presence was required and strategically placed near enough to these dens of terrorism so that should such an event ever occur again they would be dealt with very quickly indeed. A look at the map showed that country to be Iraq, which is roughly equi–distant from all three of them. Even though Saddam was an evil monster and ran a country ruled by fear and mass murder, the Americans did not send their armed forces to get rid of him. He was merely a by–product of their main intent: to have a powerful military force in situ to leave no doubt in the terrorist government's minds: “do it again and within minutes you will be made to regret it”. Obviously, a 'friendly' Iraqi government is necessary to establish such a base. The war that is being fought there is because Iran, Syria and Saudi Arabia are trying to stop the USA from carrying out this intention. But by their very presence, I believe the USA have forced Al Qaeda to turn their attentions to Africa and the South–East Asia basin rather than risk attacking the West. We are not in Iraq primarily to help the Iraqis: we are there to ensure that other 9/11*s are not visited upon us. So far we have been successful. Mr Fleming, rather than snidely attacking the USA president, you, together with us all, should be thanking him for saving us from what could be a terrible series of catastrophies.

Sincerely, David Lee