ON the Saturday of Fairford air show a whole page was given to a letter from Bruce Kent, described as veteran CND campaigner.

There can be none who would dispute his view that peace and plenty are much to be preferred to war and famine.

Few would argue that poverty stricken countries should spend large sums on expensive arms or maintaining big armed forces.

If Bruce Kent had gone on to criticise Mugabe and other despotic rulers in Africa and the Middle East who use their armies to create terror and starvation deliberately against those who do not toe the line, then his views would have had the force of reason.

Sadly, he chose instead to pander to the extremists by launching a spiteful attack against America for helping the Afghan people to bring to an end more than 20 years of bloody and destructive civil wars. So much for his Movement for the Abolition of War.

Where Bruce Kent's arguments really show up as phony are in the repetition of Saddam Hussein's propaganda that thousands of Iraqi children have been killed by UN sanctions denying them medicine. This is blatantly untrue.

Food and medicine are not subject to sanctions. However, the Chinese admit they are ignoring sanctions and supplying Saddam with guided missiles. They are also probably the world's biggest exporters of medicine.

I can believe perhaps Saddam may have forgotten to ask the Chinese to supply medicines as well, especially if they were not for children of his supporters. What I refuse to believe is that someone of the intelligence and experience of Bruce Kent cannot see through this deception.

KEITH RATCLIFFE

Priory Green

Highworth