Sir, - Now that the smoke of the assault has cleared it is possible to attempt to list the probable results. The following matters seem to stand out.
(1) Saddam Hussein has survived unscathed, his standing in the Arab World enhanced and the anger of his people at his evil deeds diverted on to the foreign aggressor. Western arms manufacturers are relieved. Their best friend and sometime customer is still available for further service.
(2) The UN has been degraded. Kofi Annan did not conceal his anger and dismay at the aberrant behaviour of the two member states who, with undue haste, sacrificed solidarity to self-interest and power politics. Long-term prospects of peace in the Middle East have receded. Meanwhile Israel, confident that a blind eye will continue to be turned to its numerous transgressions of UN sanctions, is laughing all the way to its nuclear arsenal and nurtures the additional missiles recently given to it by the US.
(3) Once more Iraqi men, women and children have been caught in the crossfire between competing warlords. Civilian casualties threaten the myth of the smart bomb and cannot be acknowledged. Saddam will also be reticent for fear that he might get his just share of the blame for the atrocities. Whatever the figure, it is insignificant beside the long-term deaths of thousands of children as a result of the sanctions and their acceleration to genocidal proportions now because of the dismemberment by the air strikes of all sectors of the Iraqi economy. Ritual placing of all blame on Saddam Hussein will not save their lives - nor will it exculpate those in the West who have responsibility.
(4) In an interval of poetic justice the US President has been impeached. This is entirely appropriate. Nor does the fact that it was done for the wrong reasons really have any significance except to underline the fact that this is a dysfunctional world where right is wrong and wrong is right. - Yours, etc. John Howlett,
Woodlands Avenue, Renmore, Galway.