The Editor, Sir:

'Freedoms', if left unchecked, can become oppressive. Take, for instance, the United States fight for freedom.

The U.S. seeks to apply its influence globally by any means necessary - diplomacy, infiltration, intimidation, coercion, and even deception - as is clearly the case in the Iraqi war, and now on the looming "threat" of a nuclear Iran.

Every country has a right - an essential freedom - to protect itself. As a matter of fact, self-defence is itself a duty, not a freedom of choice. Thus we were given food to protect our body from the calamities of sustained hunger and malnutrition.

The current U.S. policies view Iran's ambition to defend itself as a threat, especially since they have not been able to infiltrate that system so as to provoke internal collapse or use the puppeteering technique.

Make no mistake, I do not favour that Iran should have nuclear weapons. I believe that nuclear weapons should not even exist as it destroys without regard to targets, environment, civilians and infra-structure.

But in a world where the superpowers make drastic measures to ensure that they are not emulated, when indeed leaders should be role models, who wouldn't want to be able to defend themselves?

The truth is, the recent American rhetoric of foreign policy is: 'if it doesn't sit well with me, you gotta change it'. And the U.S. freedom of foreign policy now becomes the oppressor of international freedoms vast and wide.

I am, etc.,

JAMIL AHMAD

amjama1@hotmail.com