IN response to Hamilton Connolly (Letters, September 26) my suggestion (Letters, September 22) of a "wayward" missile strike on President Assad's palace was intended purely to bring the horrors of the Syrian conflict to the doorstep of the perpetrator of said horrors. I'm sure Mr Assad sleeps soundly in his bombproof bunker.

That said, would I swap the lives of Richard Nixon, Tony Blair, George W Bush et al for all those who have perished through their questionable decisions? Probably.

The world indeed is in a terrible place and where the UN fails to act today, over the murderer Bashar Assad, tomorrow it will be President Putin in the frame and on it goes.

John Elder,

Howden Hall Road, Edinburgh.