Joan Makin is quite right (Letters, November 29). Blair and Bush take great care to be nowhere near any real danger.

Bush, like his predecessor Bill Clinton, made sure he evaded the draft for the Vietnam war by enlisting daddy's help to get him into the Texas Air National Guard, a conveniently harmless domestic posting.

As for Bush's flying visit to troops in Baghdad, he stayed for precisely two hours 32 minutes and no one knew he had been until he had gone.

Moreover, in waging an illegal and immoral war against Iraq, which was more concerned with that country's oil than its people, both Blair and Bush have merely encouraged terrorism, not curbed it.

Their criminal policies are responsible for the danger now facing British and American citizens all over the world.

The financial burdens of this illegal occupation - more than £3 billion to date - will also lead to deterioration in our public services.

-Fred Shipton, Brighton