Madam, - As one who opposed the illegal war and invasion of Iraq I refuse to accept I "got it wrong" as right-wing journalists, apparently unfazed by the murder of their colleagues, urge. No banned weapons have been found and the killing of civilians in Bloody Sunday-style massacres continues, amid scenes of widespread disorder.
It's good that Saddam is gone, but not in this manner. The cure may prove worse that the disease. This has not prevented the Bush administration from threatening other states in the region with a dose of the same indiscriminate medicine. We are told that the US is so powerful that it can do what it likes and that feeble bleats of protest from the millions who marched against the war mean nothing.
So perhaps the answer is to strike at something dearest to the American heart - the profit line. If all those protesters stopped buying American fast food, soft drinks, alcohol, clothing, etc., we might be listened to with more respect. It is rather ridiculous to see anti-war opponents clad in American jeans, swigging American Cola. - Yours, etc.,
ADRIAN BOURKE,
Bray,
Co Wicklow.
Madam, - Is it just me, or does anyone else find it incongruous that an EU aspirant state such as Poland, constantly bleating about getting more EU structural funds during the negotiation process, can find the money to send thousands of soldiers to Iraq to help "administer Iraq's three military sectors" (The Irish Times, May 5th)? A very bad case of béal bocht exposed as gombeenism of the worst kind. - Yours, etc.,
ULTAN O'BROIN,
San Francisco,
USA.