Madam, - Although Sean Coleman (March 8th) says that Les Roberts's estimate of excess mortality in the war in Iraq, published in the Lancet medical journal last October, is "now thoroughly discredited", he makes no reference to any scientific refutation of Dr Roberts's conclusions. In fact this survey stands as a reliable estimate of how many Iraqis will never get a chance to vote in a democratic election because they were killed as a result of the invasion.
Although Mr Coleman also claims that the Irish anti-war left supports car-bombers, torturers and beheaders of civilians in Iraq, he names no names. As far as I know, Irish anti-war activists utterly detest the abduction of civilians for torture, whether it is committed by Iraqis or by the CIA. If any Irish anti-war activist has ever expressed support for abductions, torture or bombings at Iraqi mosques, can Mr Coleman tell us who and when and where?
He suggests that Edward Horgan (March 6th) should direct his ire against the "black-clad militias which strafe and terrorise the neighbourhoods of Baghdad and Basra" rather than against those who are (allegedly) battling them. Unfortunately, as Charles Krauthammer pointed out in his column a few weeks ago, American forces have supported first one faction and then the other in a bloody struggle for power in Iraq. Need I say that Krauthammer is not a renowned member of the anti-war left? He could not understand why these fickle tactics had not helped to bring peace and stability to Iraq!
Rather than sending yet more of America's most courageous young men and women to die in a futile "surge" in Baghdad, perhaps the US government should start making plans to pay reparations for the death and destruction it has brought to Iraq. - Yours, etc,
Dr COLIN ASHEY, Castletown, Leixlip, Co Kildare.