WHILE Mr Margrett is right to mention the risk of a fundamentalist takeover in Iraq (You Say, June 3) he underestimates the determination of coalition leaders and their administrators in Iraq itself to guard against that, something to which they have publicly committed themselves.

Agree or disagree with overthrowing Saddam by force, but those who saw it through are not likely to allow the hard-won gains from the conflict to slip away now.

Besides, there are times when a problem is simply too acute to ignore, even if resolving it carries its own risks.

Such a problem was the 12-year snook Saddam cocked at the UN and the message it was sending to potential imitators.

In the UN context, Mr Margrett's comparison with Israel is wide of the mark. Israel, while it has certainly made mistakes, has broken the grand total of one binding Security Council resolution - one broken equally by those Palestinian extremists who want to "sweep Israel into the sea".

Saddam, by contrast, broke a whopping 17 of them. Israel's conduct, flawed as it may be, just isn't in the same league or anywhere near it.

JULIAN THAKE, Worcester.