Letter: Unwinnable wars

Forty years ago, the late and unlamented US president Richard Nixon launched his infamous war on drugs, transferring the prohibition tactics that had failed with alcohol to narcotics. Today, 80 per cent of Americans believe it has been a vastly expensive fiasco which has made US violent crime endemic and destroyed its southern neighbour, Mexico.

Then ten years ago the Bush-Blair combo declared war on terror which has proved just as counterproductive, uniting the enemies of the West and aiding terrorist recruitment.

Not to be outdone, Al Gore launched his war on carbon, which the scientific illiterates among our political class have used to undermine modern western lifestyles.

Now US president Barack Obama is set to become the fourth horseman of the apocalypse by declaring war on WikiLeaks, resulting in an unwinnable cyber-conflict with every geek on the planet.

DR JOHN CAMERON

Howard Place

St Andrews, Fife