I MUST take issue with S G Beard who suggests that we would have been better off not fighting the Nazis (You Say, February 28).

While it may be true that The Second World War could have been avoided, it is a good thing that it was fought.

Hitler was not considered a threat to our security, hence the national reticence to go to war.

However, left to his own devices he would have succeeded in his "final solution" and many other nefarious plans besides.

People who draw parallels between The Second World War and the current situation with Iraq show a lack of understanding of both. This is not 1939 and we should not treat it as such.

Saddam is an evil man who should have been removed from power long ago, but so were Presidents Suharto and Pinochet.

The current mess is a result of inconsistent foreign policy on the part of this government and its predecessors.

Until we can apply the same rules across the board for all evil rulers, we should not spill one drop of British blood.

BEN EATON,

Stourport-on-Severn,

Worcestershire.