Madam, - The continuing failure to find evidence of nuclear and chemical weapons in Iraq seems to have taken the shine off George Bush's costly adventure. If WMDs don't turn up I presume we will be rebriefed about the Coalition's revised key goal - the desire to bring "freedom and prosperity" (TM) to the natives of Mesopotamia.
On a recent visit to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo my attention was drawn to a caption relating to ancient statecraft in the region which seems highly appropriate for modern-day Iraq: "The Roman occupation of Egypt brought some centuries of tranquillity to Egypt, but as its chief aim was the extradition of revenues for Rome, Egypt's economic exhaustion increased rapidly."
The motives of occupation have changed little in two millenniums. - Yours, etc.,
CATHAL RABBITTE, Giza, Egypt.