Madam, - Brendan Horisk (September 8th) is entitled to his contempt for the Bush administration and his schadenfreude over America's struggles and casualties in Iraq, untempered as they are by the slightest expression of concern for the welfare of the Iraqi people.
But his advocacy of putting UN troops under UN rather than US command is irresponsible. He should remember the bomb that killed Sergio de Mello under the UN's protection, the Muslims murdered in Srebenica under UN protection, the Rwandan genocide, to mention a few events. Without security nothing else can be achieved. It is too important to be left to well-meaning amateurs. - Yours, etc.,
TONY ALLWRIGHT, Killiney, Co Dublin.