IN launching cruise missiles at "selected air defence targets" in Iraq, the United States is sending a clear message to Saddam Hussein that he has got to stop the repression of innocent civilians.

It's the sort of savage message that Saddam, the master of savagery, understands.

The Iraqi military attacks against the Kurdish rebels cannot be tolerated and President Clinton is unequivocal about it.

British Defence Secretary Michael Portillo is backing Mr Clinton and has revealed that British forces had provided logistical support for the American attack, but had not provided military back-up.

We support Mr Portillo's sentiments that Saddam is a man of quite staggering brutality towards his own people and this is a clear message from the United States to him that this sort of massive violation of humanitarian principles cannot be tolerated.

And Malcolm Rifkind, the Foreign Secretary, was right when he said that the world should not be fooled by the pretext given by Saddam. It was not because of Kurdish rivalry that he sent tanks to the area. His objective was to re-establish his control over all of the Kurdish area and to try to regain control of northern Iraq. He must be stopped.

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