DURING a past holiday I read Barack Obama’s Audacity of Hope, and I have just finished reading an excellent autobiography of William Pitt the Younger, a man of staggering intellect – Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer at 24 years of age and a brilliant leader of this country during the threats of Napoleon’s military tyranny.

This 600-page book was written by William Hague, to wide acclaim.

Mr Siret recently described Mr Hague as a “moron” for denouncing the potential use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime against the civilian population. As President Obama has also recently condemned any attempt by the Assad regime to use chemical weapons, it would seem that, according to Mr Siret, he would by association also be a ‘moron’.

I would suggest that these articulate and intelligent authors and politicians have a far greater understanding of what is happening in Syria.

Come on, Tim – you may disagree with their politics, but personal abuse belittles and debases any reasoned argument.

However, there has definitely been one “moron” in this part of the world and that was Saddam Hussein, who gassed villages full of innocent Kurdish civilians.

This attack has been officially recognised as an act of genocide and remains the largest chemical attack on a civilian population, with around 7,000 deaths. It is quite right and proper to use any diplomatic language to stop anything of this sort ever happening again.

IAN CUMMINGS, Gibson Close, Abingdon