Sir, – It is a truism that governments act first and foremost in their own country’s best interests. However, in ruling out any possible – even limited – military intervention aimed at reducing the capacity of a foreign power to continue deploying chemical weapons of mass destruction, the British parliament has taken not only one step backward but it has sickeningly gone miles further (Front page, August 30th).
Not only has it voted not to act in Britain’s “own best interests”, but at the same time it has given a huge green light to any regime anywhere that they can now deploy such abominable indiscriminate weapons with impunity should they so wish. It is a day of shame for one small but powerful democratic institution but it will turn out to be an unimaginably tragic one for all of humanity, for “never have so few” condemned so many future victims to so much death and suffering. Their washing of their hands of it all has only made them so much dirtier. – Yours, etc,
IVOR SHORTS,
Mill Green, Stonham Aspal,
Stowmarket,
Suffolk, England.
Sir, – I welcome the sensible Editorial “A dangerous escalation” (August 29th). It is certainly another example of the unwisdom and inexperience of British politicians at Westminster, following as it does ill-judged interventions in Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan. The British claim to be motivated purely and simply by humanitarian motives rather than the motives of vested interests that legitimately characterise all international relations needs to be challenged once and for all.
I write to assure you and your Irish readers that the people of England share the concerns expressed in your Editorial in overwhelming numbers. But if you do not publish letters from Englishmen like myself these moderate opinions will continue to be submerged in the rush to war. – Yours, etc,
GERALD MORGAN,
English Parliamentary
Party,
The Chaucer Hub,
Trinity College, Dublin 2.