Sir, I couldn’t agree more with my erstwhile but anonymous colleague who you quoted in your news story last Thursday.
I too am a former RAF weapons technician and between 1953 and 1993 I probably loaded more bombs on to moreaeroplanes in moreconflicts than most.
As the Germans showed in Spain in the 1930s and the Low Countries in the 1940s, bombing is an ideal tool for softening defences and tying up resources, but it needs to be followed up by well-trained, well-equipped and well-led troops.
Since Roman ballistas and other siege engines, the arrows of Agincourt and the cannon of later centuries, weaponsarriving from the air have had to be followed by feet on the ground and it is a fact that we forget atour peril.
The trouble is that in the early 1940s Arthur Harris and Winston Churchill decidedto bomb Germany,one, because it was his job, and the other because it was the only weapon we had at the time.
By the time we had the resources to back it up, the Americans had taken it up and ever since then bombing has become the be-all-and-end-all of every conflict.
Harris did say thatconventional bombing had never won a war but added that it had never been tried.
Well it has now been tried and it does not work on its own.
In every conflict from Aden in the 1960s to the Gulf in the ’90s we always knew that every bomb dropped is in support of the infantry. It is boots on the ground that win conflicts, not electioneering gestures.
Laurie Richards. 100 Crail Road, Cellardyke.
SNP should put house in order
Sir, Alex Salmond challenged DavidCameron over his use of the term “terroristsympathiser” to describe those opposing airstrikes in Syria. Fair enough, maybe.
Yet his party members and supporters, unchecked by MrSalmond and the rest of the SNP hierarchy, prior to the referendum and even now, labelled those opposed to independence as traitors, unpatriotic and anti-Scottish.
The SNP conflates Scotland and the SNP to imply if you vote otherwise, you’re doing down Scotland. Mr Salmond would be wise to put his party’s house in order.
Martin Redfern. 4 Royal Circus, Edinburgh.
Are we experts in conflict?
Sir, It is has been widely reported that our First Minister is arranging, in discussion with a UN envoy to Syria, for Scotland to commence training of female peace negotiators to be employed in negotiations in Syria.
How deluded is that? Why not discuss such initiatives within the wider UK policy towards this conflict? Scotland is, after all, part of the UK.
Secondly, why the restriction to females?
Thirdly, where is the evidence that Scotland is a world expert in such training and how will resident Scottish trainers develop the depth of knowledge and experience of the various dimensions of the Syrian situation to be of anyrelevance whatsoever?
Derek Farmer. Knightsward Farm, Anstruther.
Hypocrisy of Government
Sir, – David Cameron’s military action against Isis is yet another fraud.
The CIA, MI6 and the Gulf medievalistsconspired to channel support to the Syrian “rebels”, including those now calling themselves Isis.
The only effective opponents of Isis are the accredited demons of the west Syria, Iran, Hezbollah and now Russia.
When Isis forces attacked Palmyra in eastern Syria in May, the US did not launch air strikes against it because the city was defended by the Syrian army and Washington was frightened of being accused of keeping President Bashar al-Assad in power.
The hypocrisy of David Cameron on this issue knows no bounds.
Two years ago, Mr Cameron wanted to bomb Assad and become defacto allies of Isis.
Alan Hinnrichs. 2 Gillespie Terrace, Dundee.
Why do we fall for religion?
Sir, Three weeks on from the Paris atrocities, is it not a shame that the world seems to be unable to see that this is just one more outrage which results from religiousdifferences?
The world plays host to many faiths, all of which blackmail and deceive their followers into believing that only one religion, with itsteachings and beliefs in a particular god can give its followers a pathto redemption,resurrection andeverlasting life.
I can think of noreligion which does notfollow this path.
We are all supposed to be intelligent beings,yet an unbelievableproportion of humanity seems to fall for similar nonsense again and again.
We are all born, live and die, and that is the end of it.
There is no afterlife, we will not be resurrected or reborn: we all know this and our knowledge confirms this.
Humanity does not need this blanket.
No religion is above criticism includingChristianity in its various forms. We are humanity, and it is a sad reflection that the current state of the world is of our own making.
E Mitchell. Victoria Road, Kirkcaldy.
Lottery cutsto hit Scotland
Sir, Proposals by the UK Department for Culture, Media and Sport to cut £30 million from Big Lottery funding for charities in Scotland will prove devastating and impact on the most vulnerable in our society.
It emerged recently that the department is proposing to reduce the money bound for the Big Lottery Fund from 40% to 25%, so that more can be directed to fund the arts and sport.
However, these cuts would leave the BigLottery in Scotlandvirtually unable to fund new work, with existing commitments swallowing up almost all its remaining funds.
This seems rather odd, in that in the run-up to the independence referendum the pro-unionist Better Together campaign argued that the only way to protectLottery funding was through the union.
It is perverse to cut support from charities when there has never been a greater need due to Government austerity.
Indeed, the Trussell Trust has indicated that foodbank use in Scotland has increased to record levels, with more than 60,000 referrals over a six-month period.
To add insult to injury, the Scottish Government has never even been consulted on such a move.
UK ministers should resist the temptation to adjust Lottery spending to accommodatepressure on public expenditure and should be doing everything it can to protect BigLottery Fund funding, not looking to cut it.
Alex Orr. 77 Leamington Terrace, Edinburgh.
Uncertainty harms jobs
Sir, If it is the intention of the SNP to marginalise Scots from the rest of the UK and many member countries of the EU in the sole pursuit of independence, then one has to accept from the recent polling figures they are succeeding.
However, this type of policy, of course, has unintended consequences in terms of jobs and the economy as has been illustrated by the sharp negative divergence in growth and the rise in unemployment compared to the rest of the UK.
For example, we are going to opt out of the nuclear-energy business, have opted out of growing GM crops affecting research, delayed adecision on fracking and are willing to putthousands of skilled jobs at risk in the pursuit of unilateralism.
In the meantime, the North Sea oil industry is struggling with more than 65,000 job losses and counting, a fiscal deficit double the UK and our older industries are under attack due to world over-capacity and higher costs.
Underpinning the lack of business confidence in Scotland is the dithering on whether there should be another independence referendum.
Ian Lakin. Pinelands, Murtle Den Road, Milltimber.