I HAVE been sickened by the letters of support for the fascist dictatorship in Iraq. While I respect the right of Messrs Margrett, Spiteri et al to support this totalitarianism, I must question their judgement.

Can I relate just one aspect of the thoroughly unpleasant nature of Saddam and his cronies?

The people of the country we now call Iraq have twice been saved twice by the armed forces of the British Commonwealth. In the First World War, the Turks were prevented from occupying the area. In the Second World War it was the Nazis.

As a result, there are 22,379 graves of British and Commonwealth servicemen in eight cemeteries - 41,248 unknown are commemorated on two memorials.

These places are not only sacred in a moral sense, they are sacred in a legal sense. The sites were given to the United Kingdom in perpetuity and treaties freely signed to that effect.

Throughout the world, there are more than 23,000 burial grounds in almost 150 countries. Governments, even totalitarian ones, have a proud record of respecting the sites, graves and memorials.

In occupied Europe during the Second World War, the German forces were absolutely scrupulous in respecting the dead. Sadly in Iraq, this is not the case and thousands of graves have been desecrated. One section of a cemetery in the port of Basra that was set aside for RAF pilots who died in Iraq in the Second World War has been torn apart and excrement smeared across the graves.

In Hakimayah, the Cross of Sacrifice has been pulled down and attempts made to erase the carved words "Their Name Liveth For Evermore". A memorial to 40,000 missing in Basra has been dismantled.

In Baghdad the top of a cross has been lopped away and two headstones have been dragged from their graves for use as goalposts by the local youths.

Sapper Thomas died at the age of 25 in 1917, Signalman Karim Abdul died just eight months earlier. The only evidence that these men died defending Iraq is propped up by bricks and youths kicking a football between their names.

In a country such as Iraq, this desecration can only take place with the consent of the Government. This Government still, despite signed agreements, prevents the Commonwealth War Graves Commission for inspecting the sites and trying to repair the damage. Saddam is a thoroughly evil man with no respect for the living or the dead. He must be deposed.

BARRIE DOBSON, Worcester.