This is in response to Poorya Nayerahmadi's letter ("Giving up on WMDs shows war is wrong," Jan. 18) regarding weapons of mass destruction. It seems very obvious to me that he has simply chosen to ignore the reasons for which we invaded Iraq. Apparently, he has forgotten that Saddam illegally attacked and occupied Kuwait.

It seems he forgot that Saddam launched Scud missiles at our good ally, Israel. Lastly, he has forgotten that WMDs were used during the 1980s and 1990s. All of this was in violation of international law. After Desert Storm, the United Nations gave him guidelines to follow in order to maintain power. Following the war, Saddam repeatedly violated sanctions, threw out inspectors and did all he could to deceive the U.N.

Most importantly, however, he never gave any proof that he had destroyed his stockpiles of WMDs, weapons we knew he had. Before the current conflict, Saddam's deceptive actions along with the intelligence of nearly every developed country, not just the U.S., indicated that he had WMDs.

I still believe that he had them but the porous borders with Iran and Syria allowed them to disappear. This point, however, is inconsequential. The most important reason for invasion was to protect international law. If the U.S. ignored the Iraqi situation, the U.N. would have been turned to nothing more than the League of Nations part two, a fate for which the U.N. may still be destined.

What Mr. Nayerahmadi, as well as many Americans, fails to realize is that this is not the second Gulf War. It is the long overdue conclusion of the first.