From Mr Roger Algase.

Sir, While both Gideon Rachman ("The president's dilemma: to soldier on or manage defeat", January 2) and your editorial ("An indecent end to a reign of infamy", January 2) wisely put the word "surge" in quotation marks in discussing the possibility that the Bush administration may send additional troops to Iraq, few - if any - US commentators have questioned the administration's use of this Orwellian term.