I WOULD like to answer some of PR Willey's several questions about York Against the War's actions (Letters, January 17).

Do we believe protesting and collecting names on a petition can "influence a decision for military action"? We don't know; but both these activities show that it cannot be assumed that further attack on Iraq is undertaken in our name - nor, judging from opinion polls, in that of most of the population of the UK.

Our street stalls show that the vast majority of York people are glad of an opportunity to make their dissent clear to our Government.

Mr Willey suggests rather that we "let the people who we elected to run our country sort it out"; since we are fortunate enough to live in a democracy, decisions made by those elected representatives should reflect the informed opinion of their electorate.

Our actions are not intended to save our own lives, as PR Willey suggests, nor even directly to protect our fellow citizens.

We hope to prevent the innocent citizens of Iraq, already suffering from the devastating effects of 12 years of sanctions, from being killed in an unjustified, immoral and illegal intensification of aggression. Isn't that worth stirring from our complacency for?

Most importantly, we need public debate on this issue, both in Parliament and outside. So I extend a warm welcome to PR Willey to the public meeting at 7pm tonight at the Station Hotel, where local and national experts will speak, and York people can have their say too.

Laura Potts,

York Against The War,

Dove Street,

York.

Updated: 12:03 Monday, January 20, 2003