JULIAN Thake (You Say, December 21) supports sanctions "against Saddam".

It isn't Saddam Hussein or those responsible for the security of his government or the Iraqi state who are affected by sanctions. It's the common people of Iraq.

Mr Thake is supporting a policy that is acknowledged as responsible for the deprivation of millions and the death of hundreds of thousands of young children.

Iraqi sanctions are a mediaeval siege, no more nor less. They're a game of "who blinks first" as a once modern and prosperous state and its people descend into poverty, deprivation and rising mortality.

If it gives Mr Thake comfort to believe that this suffering is the responsibility of Saddam Hussein's policies, then I presume that he also feels that the hardship of the Iraqi people is a price worth paying to secure oil supplies for the world's biggest polluter.

When this is described as an act of the civilised world, it is not something I recognise as "civilised".

PETER NIELSEN,

Worcester.