US military footprint a big threat to global security

EMMET Dunphy’s flawed analysis of the situation in Georgia (Letters, August 13), and his consequent petty attempts to take a swipe at anti-war activists, should not pass unchallenged.

I know it’s tedious but necessary to keep repeating that the US invasion of Iraq was illegal under international law, was based on deliberate lies about ‘weapons of mass destruction’, was seen as an opportunity not to be passed up to gain a permanent military foothold in an oil-rich but militarily weak Middle East state.

Saddam Hussein was perfectly acceptable to the US when he was ‘their’ dictator, as are all the other present-day dictators that they support across the globe — witness Saudia Arabia, Pakistan and, in particular, Uzbekistan which was used by the US as a rendition centre with the connivance of the dictator, Islam Karimov, who might even leave Saddam in the shade if the full truth ever emerges.