ARE we becoming occupied like Iraq?

As an anti-war protester, I, along with all the others, was assured by Jack Straw that the world would be safer once Iraq was "free" from Saddam. Yet we now know that Jack Straw's department had warned that the US had no post war plans. (Another lie to add to the weapons etc).

We always said that the war would release more terror, not less, as relatives and sympathisers of those killed would seek revenge for the unwarranted attack on a state that did not pose any threat to us.

In Falluja US forces killed thousands of innocents, because of insurgents it was stated, yet before the attack reporters in the town stated that "....most residents across the area said there was no Ba'athist or Sunni conspiracy against US soldiers, there were only people ready to fight because their relatives had been hurt or killed."

George Bush and Tony Blair continue to spout about liberating Iraq and daily the death toll mounts.

Perhaps it is a US liberation as in 1898 when the US "liberated" Cuba from Spain yet occupied it with military bases and put in its favoured people to manage the island.

Daily the death toll rises in Iraq but Bush and Blair insist they will see it through. Does it mean total occupation of the area for their friendly corporations to pillage?

A sentiment voiced by grieving US mother Cindy Sheehan, whose son was killed: "If he (Bush) gave the real answer, people in this country would be outraged -- if he told people it was to make his buddies rich, that it was about oil."

As terrifying is the so-called attack on terror which led to the Amnesty International Report 2005 to state, "Guantanamo Bay has become the gulag of our times....When the most powerful country in the world thumbs its nose at the rule of law and human rights, it grants a licence to others to commit abuse with impunity."

Sadly, the terror attacks happened, a tragedy that could have been avoided and which was later claimed to have nothing to do with UK forces occupying Iraq. How can it be claim otherwise?

Meanwhile unseen forces, the people in the shadows, want to use this event and others which are yet to come, to restrict our liberties, liberties which stretch back to Magna Carta.

Is our so-called democracy under attack from within, are we being occupied, why do I need an identity card to get NHS treatment when they are supposed to help track down terror suspects, should all my private correspondence be open to MI6 and is it right that all my personal details are being shared with a foreign power?

GRAHAM CARTER, Kingsway, Lower Darwen.