I wish to comment on the letter Nature of the Iraq war by Aemilius Paullus. In suggesting the war in Iraq is a communal or civil war is denying the role of the occupiers. Until today, most speculations about the true cause of the war in Iraq steer clear of the Zionist link.

It is important to remember that US policies are spearheaded by campaign contributors and it is these well-funded lobbyists who are holding the leash on the US government. There are three main lobby groups in the US - the oil lobby, the arms lobby (representing America's defence industry which is five times bigger than all of Europe's including Russia's put together) and the most powerful of all, the pro-Israel lobby.

The war in Iraq satisfies all three lobby groups put together. Important to note, the invasion of Iraq scored a 99 percent popularity in Israeli polls compared to a one-time high of 70 percent in the US which has now dropped to a dismal 36 percent. Why doesn't the US pull out of Iraq now that almost two-thirds of its population are against the war? Sadly, when democracy is a sham and minority elitists run the nation, the people's voices cannot be heard.

Saddam Hussein was never a threat to the US. However, Saddam Hussein did seek revenge for what he perceived as American betrayal of his unwavering loyalty especially in waging a proxy war against Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini who toppled the pro-US Shah Reza Pahlavi of Iran. The only way Saddam could hurt the US was by supporting the Palestinian 'intifada' (uprising) against the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.

Saddam offered US$25,000 to the families of suicide bombers which resulted in an upsurge of attacks against Israeli targets. When unemployment is as high as 70 percent, many disenchanted youths saw suicide bombing as the only means of alleviating their family's financial problems. Saddam's pro-Palestinian stand finally took its toll on the Israelis and the Americans and the US senate unanimously declared, 'Saddam has got to go'.

This prompted the Zionist-owned US and British media to go into overdrive inventing lies, fabrications and disinformation including that Iraq was stockpiling weapons of mass destruction, it was hosting al-Qaeda training camps, it had links to Sept 11, it was aiming long- range missiles towards London, NewYork and so on and so forth.

This is the true nature of the Iraq war - a war based on deception and anti-Islam jingoism.