BOLTON Quakers are opposed to our Government assisting the US Government in its announced intention to wage war against Iraq because:

1. We believe the proffered reasons given by the US are spurious; 2. The suffering that any such initiative would inflict upon the Iraqi people is totally unacceptable; 3. The use of war as a tool of Foreign Policy is barbaric; 4. There are alternatives. May we elaborate on these points?

1. Reasons: a. We reject the confident assertion that Iraq possesses Weapons of Mass Destruction without any evidence being given; b. We do not accept the claim that Iraq presents a threat to its neighbours. In fact, the recent March meeting of the 22 countries forming the Arab League was explicit about this and advised that an attack on Iraq would serve to destabilise the whole region.

2. Iraqi Suffering: Iraq is at this very moment undergoing great suffering as a result of sanctions and bombing. UNICEF estimates that some 500,000 Iraqi children die each year largely as a result of not having access to medicines precluded by sanctions, and, as Denis Halliday, a former UN Co-ordinator for Humanitarian Aid in Iraq has stated, the effect of sanctions and the destruction of Iraq's infrastructure in the Gulf War have practically destroyed a whole society.

3. Seeing War as a Tool of Foreign Policy: This does not have to be the case but there seems to be a regrettable tendency within the US Administration to think in this way. Might is in danger of becoming Right. Hence their almost unbelievable justification for their proposed war as "an act of pre-emptive self defence." Regrettably our Government is in danger of becoming complicit in this type of thinking and action.

4. The Alternative: The alternative is to vigorously pursue the paths of diplomacy and negotiation and to fully support the good offices of Kofi Annan and the UN to work towards finding just and peaceful solutions to the current dangerous situation.

In conclusion: We urge the Prime Minister to guarantee that the question of our Government supporting any proposed US military actions be debated in the House of Commons. We ask how does our being the world's second largest producer and exporter of armaments assist World Peace? And what has become of the ethical dimension in our Foreign Policy?

Barry Mills

Silverdale Road

Bolton