SO, George Bush says he's prepared to offer dialogue with Syria and even Iran (his so-called axis of evil, until he needs them) in an attempt to find a solution to the catastrophe that was once Iraq.

The Consultation Committee is, in effect, a big cry for help and collective wisdom for the crisis also.

While only good can come from both new directions, what beggars belief is the spin-doctored linguistics used, in which the Bush regime manages to make it sound like Iran and Syria are somehow culpable.

Only the politically blind can fail to recognise that the illegal invasion is responsible.

We are told that withdrawal by coalition forces would create a civil war.

Surely it is nothing less than a civil war that's been created already and why - nearly four years on - the Western forces are still based there.

Blair and Bush are fully responsible for hundreds of thousands more deaths than Saddam ever was and the toll is rising daily.

If International justice was not delivered so selectively they would be tried as war criminals.

S M TURK.

Swindon