As secretary of Swindon's Coalition to Stop the War, I would like to reply to some of your correspondents who have said we are wasting our time (eg Dec 18 'Wheel comes off leftie bandwagon').
I think democracy is worth defending, and the best way to defend our democratic rights is to use them. When our country's soldiers have been accused of war crimes, as they have following the massacre of PoWs at Mazar-e-Sharrif, then I do not think it is stupid to question what is being done in our name remember the government is blocking an independent inquiry into this, called for by Amnesty International and Mary Robinson of the UN.
Some say the war is justified because of the huge civilian death toll in America, but remember two wrongs do not make a right.
In an authoritive report, Professor Marc Herold of the University of New Hampshire recently concluded that between October 7 and December 6 there had been 3,767 Afghan civilians confirmed dead by American hands and he only counted deaths that could be independently verified.
Who are the terrorists now?
Andy Newman
Avenue Road
Swindon
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