NOW that Saddam Hussein is heading for trial, it appears that critics of the war in Iraq are hoping Britain and the United States will be embarrassed by the world being reminded that it was they who armed Saddam in the first place.

The allies did support Saddam politically and militarily and, given the situation in the Middle East in the late Seventies and early Eighties, it was morally and politically the right thing to do.

When Ayatollah Khomeni returned to Iran he created a fundamentalist Islamic state which sought to export its virulent brand of Islam to the entire Muslim world. Had this mission succeeded, then the Arab countries surrounding Israel would have attacked the Jewish state, which, in the face of overwhelming odds, would undoubtedly have responded with the nuclear weapons it has officially declined to acknowledge it possesses.

This was the pre-Gorbachev era and the Cold War had shown no sign of thawing. The Soviets would have thrown their support behind their Arab allies and America would have supported Israel. Had this scenario played out, then Cold War could have turned to Hot War and the world could have disappeared in nuclear conflagration.

The political imperative for Middle East policy had to be the prevention of the spread of the Islamic Revolution and Saddam's regime, odious as it was, provided a secular buffer which was crucial in achieving this vital aim.

Stephen Dalby,

Irwin Avenue,

York.

Updated: 11:05 Monday, July 05, 2004