CAN F5 LTM BE USED TO SECURELY PUBLISH WEB APPLICATIONS?

Irules can provide the Layer 7 protection. You can filter URL with IRULE , you can filter commands and Variable via IRules so LTM is much more than just a load balance device. It is a true man in the middle device and you can manipulate the data before it gets to the server. I agree with you that ASM is an extra security module and it is very good. My F5 devices has ASM, APM , FSM and LTM. So I can use any combination of the modules to secure app. But LTM is so much more than just a load balancer. You do need to learn how to program using IRULE