I refer to Robert Hum's letter titled Counterweight needed for US .

I disagree with the writer's implicit suggestion that because Saddam Hussein's murderous reign provided food on the tables, it should not have been overthrown in the 2003 Iraq War. The writer has conveniently forgotten to factor into his moral calculus the thousands of innocent lives lost in the genocide of the Iraqi Kurds, Shiites, Jews and other dissidents from even his own Sunni denomination.

Hum should take a look at the BBC website and search for the words 'mass grave, Iraq' to read reports of the discoveries of such mass graves in Iraq after its liberation.

However, I do agree with the writer that there is now a pressing need to check and balance the US globally. China is certainly one of the counterweights. However, let us not forget about India, France, Germany, Russia, Canada, and the Muslim civil societies as well as secular progressives of the world including in the US, Britain, Japan and Australia.

Together, these major powers and forces could serve to preserve a more democratic and pluralistic world and prevent it from falling to the total subjugation of the neo-conservatives in Washington, London, Tokyo and Canberra.

In this grand re-balancing project of the world, moderate Muslims all over the world have a critical and meaningful role to play. They must not only reject and condemn terrorism and tyranny but also reject attempts to co-opt them as unwitting agents of the neo-conservatives.

In other words, truly moderate Muslims must reject and condemn the two extremes and always position themselves in the broad centre to avoid being marginalised and vilified by the mass media controlled and manipulated by the neo-cons.