HOW many young men and women must die in a futile and meaningless war in Iraq on behalf of the Prime Minister, Tony Blair, and President George Bush, who feel they were guided by God to engage in war?

Originally, it was about weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and the fruitless search for them.

As WMDs were eventually deemed to be non-existent, the problem of proving Saddam Hussein, Iraq's deposed President, to be a cruel dictator responsible for many atrocities concerning his own people, took precedence, escalating into retrial by court hearings in his own country as civil war rages.

Withdraw the troops now, and leave Iraq to its own devices, as history has already proved that democracy does not prevail in countries that shun foreign intervention.

Stephen Croft, Tennent Road, Acomb, York.