Sir, – Damien Flinter writes (May 29th) that we should not allow the arming of those in Syria who oppose the dictator Assad for fear of what he calls ‘the “collateral” consequences of our support for such militarist enterprises on the imploding Iraq and Afghanistan”. Such an insular attitude fares badly when viewed against the excesses of Assad, Saddam and the Taliban on their own civilian populations. Does he really think that holding a white flag in one hand and an olive branch in the other is sufficient protection against scud missiles, tanks, Russian-supplied helicopter gunships and chemical weapons?
I suggest that such pacifist naivety can only produce the unfettered and widespread extermination of people whose only crime is the wish to come out from under the heavy-handed lash of the dictator.
Would Ireland exist today as a republic, rather than as a province of Britannia, if such thoughts were held by our forefathers over a century? Or does Mr Flinter suggest that this verdant republic would have been better off as a larger version of the Isle of Wight? As for myself, the answer is clear. – Yours, etc,
NOEL LEAHY,
Knockbrack,
Abbeyfeale, Co Limerick.