The personal attack against Amir Taheri, one of the most distinguished writers in the Muslim world today,by the gentleman who signs himself as "Ali" is both unjustified and irrelevant to the debate over Iraq.

For years Taheri fought on behalf of the oppressed in Iraq. Although an Iranian, he never allowed his judgement to be clouded by the memory of the war that Saddam Hussein launched against Iran in 1980.

This is why many Iraqis regard Amir Taheri as an honourary citizen of the liberated Iraq.

As an Iraqi I believe that the liberation of my people from the tyranny of Saddam Hussein was a heroic and generous act on the part of the United States and Britain.

To be sure they may have had their own national interests in mind, which is only normal. But in this case their national interests perfectly coincided with ours which was to get rid of the butcher and his regime.

I will judge the US and UK to be " imperialists" only when and if they refuse to leave Iraq after being asked to do so by a freely elected Iraqi government in Bagdad. Jamila Sherian