ONE of the atrocities repeatedly cited as justification for the overthrow of the Saddam Hussein regime was the gassing of Kurds in the Iraqi town of Halabja in 1988.

Some 5,000 men, women and children died as punishment for opposing the dictator.

A month ago, four American civilian contractors were murdered in the town of Falluja and their dismembered bodies publicly displayed. In revenge, American forces using AC-130 gunships, F16 fighter bombers armed with 500lb bombs, artillery and infantry attacked Falluja and killed between 600 and 700 men, women and children.

Those who were silent about Halabja in 1988, when many of us were protesting about it, found their voice when looking for evidence in support of invading Iraq. After Falluja, these voices have fallen silent again.

Granting the difference in scale, can there now be any doubt that the invasion of Iraq, is anything but a disaster of major proportions that has unleashed "the dogs of war" and all the moral degeneration and double standards associated with that?

If there was any doubt, then admissions of the torture and murder of Iraqi prisoners by US forces, some subsequently released, must be the final condemnation.

While not remotely on the scale of the Saddam regime, the fact that techniques and equipment was used is surely proof that there is more to it than "a few bad apples" misbehaving.

PETER NIELSEN,

Worcester.