Journalist Integrity and Independence undermined by the Sunday Times & the letter that it never published

The Sunday Times can be one of the best newspapers around. It comes nowwhere close to the British daily 'Independent' in terms of political and environmental commentary . But the paper is a fascinating library of specialised magazines and supplements on travel, technology, world affairs, music... Of course, there are some right-wing columnists which one would expect from a Rupert Murdoch paper. But these writers are more than offset by the often excellent perceptive articles produced by reporters such as Christina Lamb and Marie Colvin.
So I was shocked to see that the Sunday Times of two weeks past devoted most of its front page to a totally false account of the hanging of Saddam.
Of course, the former Iraqi ruler was a tyrant that orchestrated many bloody campaigns against his people and his neighbours who deserved to face justice for his crimes. Just as Blair and Bush deserve to be charged for their war crimes against the same people.
But the Sunday Times article was propaganda of a form more symptomatic of a Stalinist or Nazi regime. For the article with its blaring headline (something along the lines of 'I was there at Saddam's Hanging!') was based around the account of an Iraqi government official.
It seems now that the Sunday Times has reduced itself to the level of another Murdoch organ - the pathetic voice channel of the Bush administration, namely 'Fox News'.
So I wrote a letter to the editor condemning this undermining of an independent critical media.
The newspaper never published my letter. Considering though the subsequent publicity generated worldwide about the happenings that accompanied Saddam's execution, the editor had no choice but to print some letters that condemned the insults and chants thrown at Saddam as he went to his death. But was the Sunday Times going to publish a letter that condemned the lies its front page and its failure to uphold the standards of 'free world' journalism? Was it going to apologise for this mistake?
Sadly, the editor failed the litmus test and proved his lack of journalist integrity.

So here is my letter that was never published by the Sunday Times
"Dear Editor,
You owe a big apology to your readership for the content of the front page of last week's Sunday Times regarding Saddam Hussein's hanging.
The article was full of lies and inaccuracies regarding the manner of his execution. Your main source, Iraqi government spokesperson Mowaffak al-Rubaie, was quoted as saying, "He was respected throughout before and after the execution. We followed rigorously international and Islamic standards". No mention of the vicious verbal abuse that took place. Thank God for mobile phones and the Internet as another official line about the Iraqi war was exposed as pure propaganda. The integrity and truthfulness of media journalism was sadly once again called into question."