Based on the “Downing Street memo”, Western troops should have never been sent to Iraq. I’ve written to three US Senators requesting an immediate investigation be established and if the memo is valid, Mr Bush should be impeached. A Congressional Hearing should be formed asap to determine the involvement of VP Cheney, Secretary of State Rice, and Secretary of Defense Rumsfield. The death of one more soldier in Iraq is too many deaths in a war based on probable lies. Robert Montarro, Sugar Loaf, New York
George W. Bush is keen to leave a legacy, but a peaceful Iraq will not be his gift to the world. His calamitous decision to invade Iraq, against world opinion, echoes the Soviet Union’s fatal occupation of Afghanistan. America’s heady project to grab the Middle East’s natural resources has failed. It must withdraw, its occupation of Iraq (and Afghanistan) is crumbling. Just as Moscow died of shame after the tanks limped back from Kabul, America faces a slow, lingering death after this most unjustifed of imperial misadventures. There is no more talking this up, there are no more rabbits (or Saddams) to pull out the hat, no more invasions, no takeover of Iran and Syria next. America has already lost on all fronts in Iraq. The neocon project is dead. Anthony Hill, Laleham, Middlesex
The US military occupation of Iraq is the problem, not the answer. It was clear from the outset that the Bush Administration had Iraq in its crosshairs. Unfortunately, the smoking gun was not in the form of a mushroom cloud, but a Downing Street memo. With over 100,000 dead and thousands more maimed and wounded, the Iraqis have more than figured out the intentions of their imperialist occupier. US-style democracy will not work in the Middle East; it barely functions at home. Much too often we continue to hear the same words echo from the Bush Administration; freedom, liberty, and democracy. Sadly they must truly exist at home before they can be considered for export. As for the Iraqis, like the Vietnamese they will ultimately expell their occupiers and determine their own destiny. Robert Ward, Anaheim, California
It is difficult to criticise the removal of a dictator such as Saddam Hussein but deposing despots by international intervention is not always the right answer. Of course, if such a man threatens another country there may be little alternative, but Iraq demonstrates that if the resulting power vacuum has to be filled by an occupying force, the result may be far worse than intended. There has to be an alternative political structure which has the overwhelming support of the populace ready to take over, and vital services such as the police and civil servants ready to be incorporated within the new regime. The mistake has already been made in Iraq. Keith Downer, London
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