A war veteran who saw Saddam Hussein's reign of terror for himself has called on the country to support the British and US military action.

Ronald Hopper, 83, served with the Royal Marines during the Second World War before working in Iraq in the Eighties.

He spent six months as an industrial consultant with the United Nations under Saddam's regime, where he learnt of thousands of murders ordered by the dictator.

Mr Hopper, who lives in Hove, said the thousands of people who joined marches to protest against the conflict did not know the full facts.

He said: "What they are doing is condemning the Iraqi people to more of Hussein.

"They say we should encourage people to rebel against him but this has been going on for 30 years and there have been 20 attempts on his life. These young protesters are going to look extremely foolish when the Iraqis thank Bush and Blair.

"Everybody knows Hussein is evil and he killed 1,500 Kurds with gas."

Mr Hopper said: "I arrived on the Saturday and spent the next day moving in.

"On the Monday morning, I asked to see my counterpart, the head of the chemical division government bureau. I was told that on the Saturday, Hussein had shot him on television.

"One morning I went to the bank and a girl came in in floods of tears.

"The following morning, I asked my informant what was going on. They said 1,000 young men were collected up and taken into the desert and murdered because they were Shi-ites."