Your politically inspired editorial, "Give war a chance" (Flight International, 21-27 January) clearly requires a political response. The reason for the US administration's urgent aggression against the Iraqi administration headed by Saddam Hussein is purely an economic one. The USA controls the largest cache of globally deliverable weapons of mass destruction in the world. I suspect the Iraqi capacity in this respect is little more than a joke, but let the United Nations weapons inspectors report and then let the UN decide.
The USA is energy lazy and energy greedy and its administration identifies a need to exploit and control energy sources. Iraq has one of the largest reserves of oil and some nearby nations have significant, though smaller, unexploited reserves. The USA wishes to enter and control this region for purposes of exploitation of oil.
Aerospace is suffering a downturn. This has nothing to do with 11 September, but is more to do with an over-heated industry that was certain to record an adjustment. It is possible that 11 September acted as a catalyst for this reversal, but nothing more. In any event, the relationship between Iraq and the tragic New York event is unproven.
I cannot believe that Airbus president Noel Forgeard would wish to be associated with a concept of how many innocent Iraqi deaths an A330 order is worth. I would imagine that Boeing's management would wish to be similarly disconnected.
Roger Allingham-Mills Berlin, Germany
Source: Flight International
