NOVEMBER 8 was the blackest day in the history of the United Nations, and one of the blackest days in the history of the world since 1945.

For the first time a body which came into existence to oppose aggression through collective security to "free the world from the scourge of war" has endorsed a resolution whose real aim is to legitimate the invasion of one country by another in order to seize that country's resources.

The existence of a hyperpower on the Security Council which can browbeat, bully, penalise or bribe all the other members to give mandatory force to its own predatory designs, has now resulted in the complete perversion of what the United Nations is supposed to stand for.

The United States is not really concerned with Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction. Had that been more than a blind covering its real intentions, the inspectors would have returned to Iraq in September. No. What the US wanted and got was a resolution to establish an inspection regime so intrusive and aggressive that it would be child's play to use if for a pretext for war by alleging that Iraq was not complying with it.

The whole matter is swathed in humbug and lies. But some awkward facts stand out. The aggressor, who claims to be so concerned about Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction, has more of such weapons than any other country, and has no intention of giving them up or allowing inspectors in, even in the case of the Chemical Weapons Convention, which it has signed and which required it to admit them. And, it is quite as cruel as Saddam Hussein. The sanctions regime, which it has consistently insisted should be maintained, has led to the deaths in their hundreds of thousands of the most vulnerable Iraqi people -- children under the age of five. Nor is the US at all concerned by the large increases in cancer and birth defects arising from the effects of the 300 tons of depleted uranium dust left behind after the Gulf War. It refuses to clear it up, or even to allow its health effects to be internationally monitored.

Our wretched and craven Government is the abettor in chief of the United States' aggression. And, as we shall see in the coming months, much prefers to spend taxpayers' money starting fires and destroying people than using those same resources to substantially increase the pay of the men and women who do exactly the opposite

Malcolm Pittock

Secretary Bolton Stop the War Coalition/CND

St James Avenue

Breightmet