Letter: The signals we send Saddam

Sir: There are some serious flaws in the impression that is created by Geoff Simons (Letters, 19 January) regarding resolutions 706 and 712 of the UN Security Council.

A total of 2.3 million claims have been lodged so far as a result of aggression by Saddam and his regime. These include claims by, or on behalf of, 3,000 British people who were used as human shields - brutality that led to several suicides, and stress-related deaths as well as severe illness and failed marriages through trauma after-effects.

Part of the proceeds of the sales of oil, agreed with Iraq in 1991, would fund some of these cases - and the many needs in Iraq - but Saddam refuses, choosing instead to use his own people in a form of moral blackmail to gain the lifting of sanctions. Itis important he is not given misplaced signals that the use of his own and other nations' people will gain advantages.

Yours sincerely, STEPHEN BROOKES Gulf Support Group Coventry