27 SEPTEMBER 2003, Page 39

Iraq is not a blunder

From Bernard J. Kaminski, Jr Sir: I have only recently stumbled across The Spectator and I must admit to being a little puzzled at the perception of America, President Bush and the Iraq war as a whole. I read with interest the article by Matthew Parris as it concerns the 'Iraqi blunder' (Another voice, 20 September), and while he presents some interesting points with which I readily agree, his perception is still based on the premise of the war as a blunder. To this point I can only wonder how the freeing of a nation from the tyrannical dictates of an evil man (and his family) can constitute a blunder. Was America's involvement in the second world war a blunder as well?

I too have seen the Iraqis marching through Baghdad in protest at the US presence, but isn't that what this was all about? When was the last time they could march through the street openly protesting without fear of reprisal from their own government? Freedom is a concept, an idea, a vague and delicious aphrodisiac, and it looks to me as if the Iraqis like the taste. Blunder? Not from where I'm watching.

Bernard J. Kaminski, Jr

Atlanta, Georgia