JUSTIN CORR,
Sir, - Philip Donnelly's casual dismissal of the litany of charges levelled against the American government is very worrying (April 4th). That a man who seems well informed can disregard the suffering of millions of people is a damning indictment of the laissez-faire attitude of so Many Westerners to what powerful countries and big corporations (is there really a difference?) do to poor countries.
It is time we all had a look at what is happening in this world. What little democracy and freedom we have is being eroded constantly and so many of us just stick our heads deep into the sand and pretend it will all go away. It will not.
I quote from a recent open letter to President Bush from Dr Robert M. Bowman, Lt-Col USAF, retired, a decorated officer who flew 101 combat missions in Vietnam:
"We are not hated because we practice democracy, freedom, and human rights. We are hated because our government denies these things to people in third-world countries whose resources are coveted by our multinational corporations. And that hatred we have sown has come back to haunt us in the form of terrorism and, in the future, nuclear terrorism.
Once the truth about why the threat exists is understood, the solution becomes obvious. We must change our government's ways."
I think we all must change our ways. - Yours, etc.,
JUSTIN CORR,
Mountbrown,
Dublin 8.