Drone strikes

It’s disappointing to see Brian Allan and Clark Cross (Letters, 10 September) attempting to justify the drone killings, which are in fact summary executions carried out by the British state on the basis of unsubstantiated “evidence” which has not been tested in a court of law.

It is extra-judicial murder, plain and simple, and to condone it on the basis of the barbarous activity carried out by IS and other terrorist groups simply drags our country down to their level and will undoubtedly aid their recruitment of other radicalised young people.

Also, to carry out this activity in a country Britain is not at war with and to do it without the sanction of parliament simply highlights the contempt the Tory Party has for democracy.

Much has been made of the advice given by the Attorney General validating this decision, but you don’t have to have too long a memory to think back to similar advice given by another Attorney General just prior to the invasion of Iraq.

Hugh Kerr (Letters, same day) draws attention to the illegal execution of three IRA members in Gibraltar. Let’s not forget Charles De Menezes, an innocent Brazilian executed by British Secret Service agents in London, in the fevered atmosphere which followed the bombings there.

His relatives were given a fulsome apology, but the problem with the death penalty and state executions is that mistakes are invariably fatal.

Douglas Turner

Derby Street

Edinburgh

Surely I cannot be alone in believing that had Messrs Bush and Blair not invaded Iraq then the present refugee situation would not have arisen. These two “world leaders” should be taken to task for the now very dangerous situation they have created by their incompetence.

Isobel M Brown

Killearn

Stirling