Sir, - I find it incredible that it has been suggested that Bill Clinton, who had responsibility for the trade sanctions against the people of Iraq, may have an Irish street called after him.
As far back as 1993 a UNICEF report entitled "Children War and Sanctions" stated that Close to 100,000 additional children had died since the beginning of the Gulf War. Since then US policy had killed 4,500 children every month. Well over a million Iraqi civilians had died as a result of US-led sanctions. This compared with 148 US combat deaths (many by their own weapons).
By lifting the sanctions, Bill Clinton had the power to stop this mass killing. Instead he opted for casual "encounters" in the Oval office, golf and a couple of PR stunts in Northern Ireland. Nobody should consider such a person meritorious of any honour, least of all the Irish who also have suffered from this type of tyrannical imperialism. If the avenue in the Phoenix Park is to be re-named let it be in memory of the people who have died as a result of US war crimes. - Yours, etc.,
John Devlin, Erne Terrace, Baile Atha Cliath 2.