No significant environmental damage has so far occurred and it is unlikely that it will

No significant environmental damage has so far occurred and it is unlikely that it will.JACK PRIDHAMPROFESSOR EMERITUS SCHOOL OF BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES ROYAL HOLLOWAY, UNIVERSITY OF LONDON, EGHAM, SURREY Generals who rose from the ranks Sir: Hector MacDonald ("Pride and prejudice", 12 September) remains one of only two British generals to rise "from the ranks" in over 300 years. Furthermore, the "victory", if it occurs, will probably be classified as pyrrhic as the millions farmers and scientists in the Americas and Asia now growing and developing "GMs" will find themselves at the head of the queue in an innovative industry which will do much to solve the serious problems of population growth, climate change and the loss of fossil fuels.The most severe form of the precautionary principle, which if applied, would stop any developing industry in its tracks, has been adopted by the green movement to target biotechnology. I wonder how many families of our killed and wounded soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan has he met.DR PERVEZ ZAHEERCINDERFORD, GLOUCESTERSHIRE The victory of GM technology Sir: I would interpret the fact that GM crops are not being grown in England somewhat differently from the councillors from Norwich (Letters, 8 September) who believe it to be "a real victory" achieved by "the green movement and all sensible people who believe in the precautionary principle".It is highly probable that history will show that most "sensible people" may reside in the more than 20 countries across the world (including at least three in Europe) which are cultivating GM crops on a billion acres of land. We cannot express horror at the threat of aircraft terrorism and not take action at the deaths of 1,000 Lebanese. We cannot object to Iraq invading Kuwait and allow Israel to seize Palestinian land.If the West could make a serious effort to be a friend of the Muslim world, seeing matters far more from their point of view, we would have a much better chance of isolating the deluded fanatics of al-Qa'ida.ANTHONY C PICKNEWBURY, BERKSHIRESir: Very laudable of Mr Blair to meet the families of kidnapped Israeli soldiers.

Since the only appeal of al-Qa'ida is ideological, Muslims across the world must be given an incentive to accept that the western and the Muslim worlds are interdependent.This causes a problem, because many concepts of fundamentalist Islam are not compatible with western values. However, much more important is resolution of the extraordinary lack of objectivity and common-sense in our dealings with Muslims, especially over Israel. We cannot ask Iran to give up nuclear reprocessing when Israel has nuclear weapons. There is a war, because al-Qa'ida has waged it, in New York, Madrid, London, Baghdad, Afghanistan, and elsewhere.

Al-Qa'ida has a clear political objective, the creation of a pure Islamic state free from Western influences, covering the territory of the old Abbassid Caliphate at its greatest extent, and ruled by a theocracy.Where his remarks make sense is in the observation that wars are not fought solely by military means. Injustice and oppression will radicalise a whole new generation of young men.YASIR DAFACARDIFFSir: Andreas Whittam-Smith (11 September) has allowed his liberal instincts to oversimplify the question of the "war on terror". Every single life lost in this unjust war is his moral responsibility as well as his buddy's. So since Bush and his fanatical Armageddon-seeking administration destroyed all the apparatus of government in Iraq, they are responsible for the subsequent opening of the gates of hell: rape, murder, chemical weapons, torture and sexual degradation in prison, arbitrary mass arrests, economic pillaging, destruction - and that's just directly by the American occupiers.Blair is also responsible as in his haste to hold on to America's coat-tails he has acted as the main cheerleader.

They then used this reaction to attack our civil liberties to try to suppress domestic opposition.These counterproductive policies have killed well over 100,000 innocent people in the Middle East, something Francis Reilly seems to regard as unimportant. And far from making us safer, we are all now more under threat than we were before. How many more must die before we put a stop to this criminal foreign policy?PETER ALLENLONDON E17Sir: James Goldman (letter, 9 September) misrepresents the argument that Blair is fuelling extremism.Under international law occupying powers are responsible for the security and welfare of all those under occupation. This action, more than any other, has radicalised many Muslims and created the very terrorism that Bush and Blair claimed to be fighting. This analysis misrepresents US and UK actions.The invasion of Iraq had nothing to do with fighting fundamentalist Islam. It was a grab for control of Iraqi oil, and to set up a regional outpost that would support Israel.