It is becoming increasingly clear the US's war on terrorism is not quite what it seems.

Rather than the apprehension of Osama bin Laden and the destruction of the Al'Qaeda network, the prime objective appears to be the installation of a regime in Kabul more amenable to US economic and commercial interests.

In an interview a few days ago, the US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld effectively let the cat out of the bag when he said: "Naturally, we are interested in democracy and human rights but we have other interests."

And those other interests can be neatly encapsulated in one word - oil.

Vampire-like, the US sucks up oil like the mythical monster does blood and, having exhausted much of its own domestic supply, is constantly in search of new sources.

Central Asia, with its vast reserves of natural gas and oil and the supply lines to the Arabian Sea through Afghanistan, are therefore of considerable strategic significance to the US.

Whether it be Kosovo or Kuwait, Chechnya or Afghanistan, the politics of oil is the hidden agenda of it all.

That terrorism as such is not the prime concern can be seen clearly from the actions of our own Government.

Over the past two years, terrorists and convicted murderers on both sides of the sectarian divide have been systematically released in Northern Ireland and now we hear security measures are to be further dismantled.

-Fred Shipton, Donald Hall Road, Brighton