MR E WILLIAMS' letter (LT, November 21) asserting that Saddam Hussein's trial is a sham and that there were no WMDs in Iraq, flies in the face of the truth, that first casualty of any war.

I suggest he does a little research before making such grossly inaccurate statements.

Firstly, Saddam and his clique purchased basic ingredients, known as precursors, from many countries during the Iran/Iraq war and used them on military as well as the civilian populace, namely, the Iraqi town of Halabja.

Initially it was thought Iran had perpetrated this act, but after the war ended Saddam and his co-accused, Ali Hasan al-Majid, dubbed by the tabloids as Chemical Ali,' admitted being responsible for this use of WMDs.

The attack on this town, lasting some 18 hours, was the largest-scale use of WMDs in modern times and involved the use of mustard gas, and the nerve agent Sarin, Tabun and VX.

Some sources I have read have pointed towards the use of the blood agent Hydrogen Cyanide as well. Casualty figures vary but most tend towards the tens of thousands. There are long-standing International Conventions of the use of these weapons on anyone.

My source is not the western media, but a Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer and journalist, the Iranian born Kevah Golestan. His images speak volumes, like the seated woman, appearing frozen, in the act of cutting a carrot but dead. Or even those of children with the grimace of rictus upon their tiny faces, when hideously poisonous gases took their lives too.

Saddam and his ilk do not face the many outstanding allegations against him in this trial.

I would want him tried in the Hague, where all could see what this monster did to humankind in the pursuit of his megalomania.

The truth is out there, the question is, do you have the stomach to see what this man did and then say he should not face the ultimate penalty?

My understanding is that he will face a firing squad, if found guilty. he should.

PETER MOORE (via email) Blackburn.