That this dictator was judged in his own country, in a highly criticised trial, and not as people like Slobodan Milosevic were at the International Criminal Court is bewildering in its stupidity. Instead we now have the spectacle of this murderous tyrant being seen as a victim and the process being derided by human rights groups, including the highly respected Amnesty International, as deeply flawed; a trial which Bush calls fair. That this could be so comprehensively fouled up is staggering, but this US administration knows no bounds in crass ineptitude.

Indeed, the whole litany of blunders committed by the Bush administration in Iraq is indicative of one thing, its breathtaking incompetence, and must be an object lesson in the extreme danger the world is in when the only remaining superpower is led by the likes of George W Bush.

History will be the judge of his presidency and I expect it to be severe in the extreme. He has single-handedly taken America from being a respected and enlightened world power to a loathed regime that cynically avoids its own judicial system with the aberration of the Guantanamo Bay prison. He has displayed clearly that he is not capable of discharging the onerous duties of a president.

Ronald Reagan was ridiculed as being without the mental capacity to be president, but through his character and ability to take sound advice he succeeded in rising to the challenge and was judged a successful president, respected throughout the world. Bush is simply a depressing failure.

Fortunately we now see a rising tide in America for a move away from this ruinous path and a yearning for change is manifesting itself in the early, meteoric and universal rise of presidential hopeful, the democrat Senator Barack Obama. The firm cross-party support he enjoys from ordinary Americans shows the depth of the disillusionment with what Bush has done, and is doing to America's standing in the world.

Dr Daniel W Delaware

Boston, Massachusetts

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The US created Saddam then turned him into a monster

To paraphrase Richard Nixon: "They won't have Saddam Hussein to kick around anymore". But what was the hurry to dispose of him? Is this some strategy to break the fighting spirit of his supporters in Iraq, fighting under some delusion that they can get him back and thus end the war more quickly? As the judge at his trial said, it was an act to put the era of Saddam behind them, but was it also to prevent any other information about American complicity with Saddam that might come up in subsequent trials?

Few people would disagree that Saddam was a bad guy. But was he so different from other dictators around the world that Americans have supported in the past? The one act that Americans harp on all the time was that he gassed his own people in the 1980s. This no doubt refers to the Al-Anfal campaign from March 1987 to April 1989 in which an estimated 182,000 Iraqi Kurds were killed using chemical weapons. But at the time America continued to support Saddam until he invaded Kuwait in 1991. So, at the time, it was no big deal to them. This was during the term of the now venerated President Reagan and the first President Bush.

The Americans also fail to mention that after the Gulf War in 1991 they encouraged the Kurds to revolt against Saddam, suggesting America would support them. When they did, the Americans did not follow through with support, leaving Saddam to slaughter the Kurdish rebels. At least as many Kurds died at the hands of Saddam while America ignored it. They were by then much more interested in whipping up propaganda about Serbian atrocities and "ethnic cleansing" to support their involvement in the War in Bosnia.

I'm sure that if Israel gassed the Palestinians, the Americans wouldn't say a thing. It's this kind of hypocrisy that turns people away from America and Americans. Saddam is just their latest victim, disposed of quickly to cover their tracks.

Brian Elkey

Cheonan, South Korea

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Justice was not served with former dictator's execution

Re: "Justice served with Saddam's death", News December 31

I quote: "There is also a lesson to be learned by the Iraqi people regardless of whether they are Sunni, Shi'ite or Kurdish. That is that by putting an end to Saddam's reign of terror, the Iraqi people now have the opportunity to embrace democracy, which is the best defence against the tyranny that victimised them for so long under Saddam. Unless Iraqis learn from their painful past, the spectre of a bloodthirsty strongman similar to Saddam could well come back in another guise. One must not underestimate what evil can accomplish when given time and resources."

Who writes this stuff? Can it be written by a Thai, presently living under a dictatorship, the result of a military coup welcomed by the Bangkok elite who is chastising the poor Iraqis for not standing up to the dictatorial force of the CIA's darling, Saddam Hussein?

Or is this another of your unsigned editorials "ghost written" by the American State Department or by its Department of War?

John Francis Lee

Chiang Rai

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As usual, Washington acts as an international hypocrite

Re: "Hussein's hanging an example of a double standard in force", Letters, December 31.

As a postscript to this thought-provoking letter, I should just like to add that once again the US has had its way - the American soldier accused and convicted of rape in the Philippines has been handed over to the custody of the US Embassy after warnings and threats made by the US authorities to the government in Manila. In the same way as the US government refuses to recognise the International War Crimes Tribunal, this is just one more example of the double standards existing in international affairs; one rule for the US and its allies and another for the rest of humankind.

Edward B Duhigg

Bangkok

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America does a job that no one else can or wants to

Re: "Hussein's hanging an example of a double standard in force", Letters December 31

Another anti US statement by a loser who can't remember his real name. The US is the only superpower responsible for policing the world. Why? Very simple: no one else, including the do-nothing UN, is capable of doing it. Actually the US is stuck with the job.

The US is a proven winner and when the US speaks, you'd better listen. Frankly, the US doesn't care what Nick-no-last-name thinks. The US carries a big stick and I wish they would use it more often. Proud to be born in the USA.

Bill Cymbalsky

Bangkok

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Purachai deserves the same treatment he meted out

Dr Purachai, while acting as you-know-who's social henchman, did everything in his power to keep foreigners from living in Thailand, then what does he do? He retires early in New Zealand and writes a book about retiring there. He is so typical of the arrogant, rich, racist Thais that comprise the upper class of Thailand.

I hope the New Zealand government will treat him as he treated foreigners in Thailand. Urine-test him, force him to carry his passport at all times, make racist statements against foreigners living in New Zealand (like he did against foreigners in Thailand), do not allow him to have an ATM card unless he has a work permit, do not allow him to own land or a house, and on and on. He should be treated the way he treated decent foreigners in Thailand.

Disgusted Foreigner in Thailand

Bangkok

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There is  no comprehension of the rule of law in Asia

It is reported that a senior and respected political leader, in a reference to ongoing investigations of certain business transactions made by members of the Shinawatra family, all of whom, incidentally, are adults, has warned the CNS not to bully "the children" as "the father" would not tolerate it. Comments of this nature underscore the unsettling proposition that Asians, even at the highest levels of government, are clueless when it comes to the concept of the rule of law.

Cha-am Jamal

Cha-am

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True meaning of Christmas has been lost in commerce

Re: "Let Thais and Thailand enjoy Christmas if they want to", Letters, December 30.

It is seldom that I disagree with Major Mark Smith's views, however, his letter is way off base.

Considering what has happened to Christmas in the US, where it has all but been forgotten that it is Christ's birthday and has instead degenerated into a credit-card orgy of buying, it is not difficult to understand why the Thais are treating it disrespectfully. The only part they understand is that it is a good merchandising ploy. Thus the only place you see or hear anything relating to Christmas is related to merchandising. They actually believe that is what it is all about.

Sorry Major Smith, but what has happened to Christmas in the US is tragic. What is happening to it here is simply anti-climatic and annoying. That is all the people who wrote about it were trying to say.

As an aside, I'd also like to mention Gareth Clayton's rambling memo in the same Letters issue continuing the debate regarding transliteration. After reading three letters from educators regarding transliteration, I finally understand why there is a problem: transliteration is obviously handled by educators.

John Arnone

Yasothon