Letter: Big axe to grind over Sir Menzies

PETER Tucker's diatribe (Debate, 28 November) against Sir Menzies Campbell in the aftermath of Ming's review of George Bush's recent book suggests Mr Tucker has a very big axe to grind.

For Mr Tucker to then widen the debate concerning certain other Lib Dem MPs who have demonstrated human frailty in their personal lives is reprehensible.

Behind the bitterness one over-riding fact remains - the war in Iraq was technically illegal for all sorts of abuses of the intelligence provided to the US and UK governments of the day. The misconstrued analysis revealed by the Iraq Inquiry vindicates the position adopted by Liberal Democrats before war was declared. In particular Ming Campbell and Charles Kennedy, alongside most of our allies, reached a more realistic conclusion when provided with less evidence than that given to the Labour Ministers in charge of our defence and foreign affairs.

We are all reaping the outcomes of such folly in terms of our national security and Mr Tucker should at least have the decency if not the humility to acknowledge that fact.

Galen Milne, Dunblane

PETER Tucker argues that the Lib Dems can't take the moral high ground over Iraq. While he may be right about that, the principal reasons he gives for this are ludicrous. His main examples of why the Lib Dems are hypocrites seem to consist of their various sex/drink scandals over the past five years or so. To imply that this tabloid froth has any moral equivalence to the illegal invasion of another country and resulting deaths of at least 100,000 innocent men, women and children suggests Mr Tucker has a skewed sense of moral priorities.

A better example of Lib Dem hypocrisy would be their support for the illegal bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999, which resulted in civilians being killed and the removal of tens of thousands of Serb, Roma and other non-Muslim Kosovans from their homeland after the conflict.

Angus Coull, Edinburgh