SIR - David Rhodes's comments that the citizens of tyrannical governments should be fighting for democracy' made me cringe (T&A, May 1).

It seems nave and egocentric to think that people under such regimes should aspire to the Western ideals that we have.

Take for example Saddam Hussein in Iraq. While I totally condemn the massacring of Iraqi Kurds, it has to be admitted that Saddam Hussein's regime provided relative stability.

Iraq now obviously lacks such stability. Nowadays, the majority of Iraqis are disillusioned with the Iraqi government's ability to provide it.

Moreover, they know more than you might think and, as a result, they are rightly sceptical of the American-imposed democracy they have.

Instead of criticising these people, we should be providing peaceful ways to obtain democracy and be showing them why democracy is an ideal worth having.

We won't achieve this by sitting at home writing letters telling them to get their act together or by invading countries and imposing our own form of democracy upon them.

David Lawson, Altar Drive, Heaton, Bradford.