Next Gen News

Chester

. Simon Tisdall (Report, 24 August) is a portrait of a mad dictator Gaddafi 's remarks quoted by the banlieue riots of 2005. I find it very difficult, with Gaddafi 's speech do not agree. Yes, the North Africans were encouraged to come to France as cheap labor. Yes, they were isolated in the bleak suburbs, and yes, they were beaten by French police when they protested. I'm no apologist for Gaddafi, but surely these are not the words of a troubled eccentric. While he certainly amassed wealth for himself and his family, he also used the oil revenues to a backward country into a desert place has modern hospitals to turn a good education system for boys and girls, an efficient infrastructure of services, and above all a secular constitution. Britain and Nato have little interest in the Libyan people, but are there to install a puppet regime to access Libyan oil without the problem of dealing with a stroppy nationalist leader. Their intervention will ensure a weak government, which will soon be toppled by Islamists. Who wins then?

Jane Ghosh

Bristol

. The "historic moment" (Striking image as rebels take 'the beating heart' of dictator's regime, 24 August) when Saddam Hussein's statue was toppled in Baghdad was not the spontaneous eruption of the people's passion that it is usually assumed to be. When the cameras panned out from the image it was clear that the crowd was small and it was the act of a relatively small group of men aided by American soldiers.