France risks U.S. alliance for Saddam

In response to the Feb. 14 letter from my friend, Roy DeLamotte, "Speak out against war with Iraq before it's too late":

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I believe that the action by our government to stop the dictator in Iraq, Saddam Hussein, to be the right policy.

As noted last year in the first-ever study by Arab academics, Muslims under totalitarian regimes in the Middle East suffer grievously from poor education, widespread poverty and a lack of freedom.

But instead of disarming after 12 years under U.N. supervision and giving its people freedom, Iraq's government has tortured children, supported terrorist attacks against Israel - our ally - and threatened U.S. security.

Today, France risks our alliance to keep a brutal dictator in power. During World War II, at great sacrifice, the United States with its allies defeated the German dictator, Adolf Hitler, who had conquered France. After the war we worked to rebuild France and Germany at extraordinary cost to American taxpayers.

Recently, France landed troops in the Ivory Coast without U.N. approval. Sadly, had free and democratic France and Germany stood united with the United States against Iraq, war might have been avoided.

Sometimes in the defense of freedom, war is the only answer.

W.F. Lawless, Augusta