PETER Nielsen's rant (You Say, October 19) turns back on itself more times than a dog chasing its tail.

According to Mr Nielsen, the US should leave Iran, Iraq, Libya, Cuba, North Korea etc to order their own affairs - but he wants the US to tell Israel what to do.

Mr Nielsen says the UN should deal with gangster regimes - then he promptly regurgitates Saddam's propaganda about the so-called "bombing of Iraq", when British and US planes are policing the Iraqi no-fly zones under a UN mandate and defending themselves against Iraqi attack.

Force alone will not eradicate terrorism without a real effort to resolve the issues of peace and justice in the world.

Neither, however, will terrorism yield to a strategy which refuses the use of force altogether.

Our difficult task is to find the right mix of approaches, and it is one in which Mr Nielsen's brand of posturing is no help at all.

JULIAN THAKE, Worcester.