Madam, - Kevin Myers is right to talk of the "long, bitter hiss of baffled begrudgery" after the unprecedented and resounding success of the Iraqi election (An Irishman's Diary, February 2nd).
For weeks before the election, many of your editions contained letters suggesting that the elections would be a disaster; that the turn-out would be insufficient; or (as Kofi Annan stupidly commented) that violence would make them illegitimate. Each of these predictions was utterly disproven last Sunday.
I for one congratulate the courage of the millions of Iraqis who braved terrorist bombs and bullets to grasp their freedom and lay the foundation of their democracy. They would not have had the opportunity to do so but for the United States of America and its current president. That fact alone, it seems, unfortunately (but unsurprisingly) explains the dearth of correspondence applauding the Iraqis' bravery.
How pathetic and warped is the mindset of those who allow hatred of America's values and its role in the world to override the clear evidence before us of a historic blow for freedom in the Middle East. - Yours, etc.,
KAROLE MICHAEL CUDDIHY, Carrigaline, Co Cork.
Madam, - Kevin Myers is absolutely right when he says that "democracy is a beautiful thing". He is also correct in celebrating the bravery of the Iraqi people for turning out to vote in such great numbers. But to announce that "Iraqi democracy is the creation of US intervention" is premature, to say the least.
Iraq is a long way from being a functioning democracy. The mind-boggling number of political parties up for election suggests an atomised country that will be at war with itself for a long time to come. However, if democracy is eventually achieved (as opposed to, say a Shia theocracy), it will be due to the tenacity and resilience of the Iraqi people, not, as Mr Myers would have us believe, as a by-product of US "intervention". - Yours, etc.,
ENDA KILROY, Whitehall, Dublin 9.
Madam, - Lest your columnists Mark Steyn and Kevin Myers become too carried away with their glowing analyses of the recent Iraqi elections, they might ponder the following paragraph from the New York Times of September 4th, 1967:
"United States officials were surprised and heartened today at the size of turnout in South Vietnam's presidential election despite a Vietcong terrorist campaign to disrupt the voting. According to reports from Saigon, 83 per cent of the 5.85 million registered voters cast their ballots yesterday. Many of them risked reprisals threatened by the Vietcong. A successful election has long been seen as the keystone in President Johnson's policy of encouraging the growth of constitutional processes in South Vietnam." - Yours, etc.,
GARY OWENS, Abbeyleix, Co Laois.