The Falmouth soldier serving in Iraq, in the letter "Why don't they join UNICEF?", quite rightly takes issue with those who demonstrated against the war with Iraq. Certainly, everyone, in a democracy like ours, has a right to express views, especially on matters of importance. However, that right would not be available to us if it were not for those, like this soldier, who were prepared to serve their country. Those of us who remember the period between the two world wars will recall how the democracies failed to unite and put a stop to the excesses of the Fascist dictatorships. They applied sanctions that were ineffectual and they comforted themselves with the idea that the fascist countries were weak, so did not have the financial strength to make war against them. A few years later when we went to war, we were out-numbered, out-gunned and out-manoeuvred. It took several years to resolve that conflict. Members of my generation who suffered the exigencies of war, who lost brothers, sisters and friends in the war and whose careers were interrupted for several years, will have little doubt that the worst policy is to put one's head in the sand and ignore the signs of potential conflict. Iraq had used chemical weapons against Iran and against its own people. Thank goodness that we took action now, when Saddam was unable to use such weapons against us, rather than waiting until he was able to deploy more destructive weapons against us. I, for one, hoped that Iraq would not be able to deploy weapons of mass destruction against our forces. Our democratically elected parliament took us into war in Iraq and it is wrong at this stage to undermine our forces, our fellow countrymen and countrywomen who are serving their country in dangerous situations. If we wish to take our government to task over its decision in this matter, the place to do this is the ballot box. When that time comes I will make my judgment of the actions of this government and I hope that others will do the same. In the meantime we should assure this soldier and all personnel that we have no quarrel with them and that we give them our full support. Paul Richardson, Shelburne Road, Falmouth.