Madam, - Trust our Western television cameras to show appalling bad taste. Nothing could be better calculated to inflame Islamic feeling than the public humiliation of the former Iraqi leader. And nothing more graphically illustrates the limitations of the American-led invasion of Iraq, without the sanction of the UN, than its failure to deal with the sensibilities of people of a different culture and its incompetence at nation-building.
It is clear that for the majority of Iraqi people their liberation has ended up in the mess that was widely predicted and its time for the US soldier to go. The time has surely come for the UN to take the stage and play the role it was set up for: peace-keeping, nation-building and unification of a fragmented, war-damaged nation.
The trial of Saddam Hussein for his crimes against his people should be conducted openly by an international body - the International Court of Justice. The fear is that before this happens the public humiliation of an Arab leader, regardless of his record, will provide renewed impetus for further attacks on Western targets. - Yours, etc.,
JOHN F. FALLON, Boyle, Co Roscommon.
* * *
Madam, - Perhaps Saddam should have hidden up a tree in north Co Dublin. - Yours, etc.,
PAUL McENTEE, Boden Park, Dublin 16