If Saddam Hussein has weapons of mass destruction, they are unlikely to be found in Iraq. They are most probably hidden in secret locations.

In the event of the UK engaging in a war with Iraq, Saddam's supporters worldwide would come to his aid and the UK be reduced to ruins. We would also lose our good friends in the Gulf states who would almost certainly be opposed to the war.

Did the US care for the human rights of the innocent people of Hiroshima when it dropped its first atomic bomb? It is said oil wells in the US are drying up. I suggest President Bush's concern is to ensure a steady flow of oil from Iraq and the Gulf states rather than human rights or the prospect of Saddam attacking the West.

The UK has a poor enough record on human rights. Did Cecil Rhodes care about the fate of the poor black farmers he drove from their land more than 100 years ago? A relative of mine, a major, related how military intelligence in the Boer War tortured their Boer captives to reveal troop movements before shooting them, burning their farms and herding women and children into concentration camps under unspeakable conditions.

In Regency times, a man could be hanged for stealing a sheep. There is at least one instance of a boy of nine being hanged for petty pilfering.

Was anything done to alleviate the suffering of the small boys sent up chimneys by sweeps or the many destitute children sleeping on the streets in Dickens' times?

When I was growing up in the Twenties and Thirties, men and women were employed in factories on an hourly basis. If a worker had a dispute with the foreman, he could be given an hour's notice. There was no tribunal to appeal to in the event of wrongful dismissal.

War is an expensive undertaking. If we cannot afford to sustain the ailing NHS or pay adequate wages to the firefighters, can we afford to engage in a war of any kind? Have we the troops?

Finally, with the US constantly making threatening noises, perhaps Saddam considers it necessary to maintain an adequate defence system for the safety of Iraq.

-Miss M I Watts, Isaacs Lane, Bolnore