Your editorial comparison between Iraq and Nepal is a bit far-fetched ('A tale of two quagmires', #203) For everything that you find similar between the two countries, I could point to plenty more that aren't the least bit the same. Iraq had a ruthless dictator who invaded his neighbours Iran and Kuwait, and gassed tens of thousands of his own people. Iraq was invaded and occupied by a foreign army, which, as you point out, was after its oil. The resistance against America may be painted by Washington as an al-Qaeda operation, but many are simply frustrated Iraqis who want the occupiers out.
J Moktan, Kathmandu

.l Re: your editorial 'A tale of two quagmires'. The Deuba cabinet and the handover of Iraqi sovereignty are both fake. Virtual political or legal authority was declared back in the hands of Iraq's interim government in the same way that the palace blessed Deuba's multiparty team. Actual control on the ground remains with the US in Iraq and the royal palace here in Nepal. Sovereignty is absolute, a nation is either sovereign or it is not. Iraq remains occupied and Nepal's democracy is still in regression.

Name supplied,
Kathmandu