Allow me to respond to Arbibi Ashoy's letter - Evil can never be a necessity .

According to the writer: "Evil can never be a necessity. There is no difference between the mentality of those who perpetuated Sept 11 and those who wish to drop bombs o­n the people of Iraq. How does o­ne justify war o­n Iraq?"

True, the semantics 'evil as a necessary evil' is problematic but let us put it another way: in many situations or circumstances in real and earthly life, all of us adults have to make choices not between clearly defined 'black' and 'white', but in many shades of grey.

In the case of Iraq whose massive and systematic brutalities against its neighbours and even own people have been well documented, 'peace' or inaction would certainly cause its neighbours and own people to live in perpetual fear, if not losing their lives, properties, honour and dignity.

The concept here is that a short, sharp and awesome war against the Baghdad regime to remove it from power would deliver its neighbours and own people from permanent fear, oppression and aggression. The short-term cost is lesser than the long-term benefit.

It is like a surgical operation to remove a cancerous growth in part of our body in order to save the whole life.

To compare state armed forces who wear uniforms and insignia with terrorists is certainly immature, misguided and ill-informed. State armed forces, especially those in democracies are accountable in their conducts.

They do not attack civilians intentionally but they can be identified even though they move into war. They do not attack just because they want to do so, but because they strictly follow the political order of the civilian governments whose policies are open to debates.

On the contrary, terrorists intentionally kill or maim civilians. They are not identifiable because they do not wear recognised uniforms or insignia. Terrorists are not accountable to any legally or legitimately constituted public authorities.

The plans of terrorists are not publicly debated in any parliaments, congresses, senates or assemblies. These cowards conspire in darkness and no o­ne really know in advance what they are going to do.

How does o­ne justify the war in Iraq? The answers are not very complicated to those who do not wish to defend repression, aggression and deceit.

First, the Saddam Hussein regime has a long record of internal repression (against its own people) and external aggression (against its neighbours); Second, it repeatedly defies UN resolutions to disarm for 12 years.

These two clear and unambiguous reasons have been accepted by the majority of the states in the Middle East, and this is the reason why the Gulf states are cooperating militarily with the US and its allies for a possible war against the Saddam regime.