Deepening crisis in Iraq

Madam, - Even after his repudiation of the Sharon-Bush deal that destroyed the road map to peace in Palestine, Kevin Myers still…

Madam, - Even after his repudiation of the Sharon-Bush deal that destroyed the road map to peace in Palestine, Kevin Myers still believes in the moral authority of the US position in Iraq (An Irishman's Diary, April 27th).

He bases this on the ineffectiveness, incompetence and corruption of the United Nations. But even if the UN did not exist, the US still violated international law when it invaded Iraq. The justifying doctrine was the novel invention of pre-emptive war, destroying an enemy that might become a threat some time in the future. This is so elastic a condition that almost any invasion could be justified by its terms.

Having successfully invaded Iraq, the US found there was nothing to pre-empt. The Iraq invasion had no relationship to the war on terrorism, and has proved a ghastly failure. Kosovo and Afghanistan were the locations of internal conflicts but Iraq was peaceful when invaded.

Through massive ineptitude, a quiescent but suffering country is being turned into a classic failed state. The moral authority the US gained by toppling Saddam Hussein has literally run into the sand.

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Al-Qaeda was allowed to regroup after its defeat in Afghanistan and carry out bombings in Spain, Turkey and Iraq itself. A new generation of Iraqis is being radicalised as fodder for the fundamentalists. Prisoners have been cruelly degraded and humiliated. The US army is enduring the hardest battles it has yet encountered in Iraq, with a growing list of civilian casualties.

Despite the basic truth of Mr Myers's assault, it may just be the UN that provides a way out for the US. During the Cold War, as Conor Cruise O'Brien once pointed out, the UN was an invaluable "sacred theatre" where the superpowers could act out submission to world opinion before doing what they must do anyway. The US still needs the sacred theatre to get out of Iraq with some shred of its honour and dignity intact. - Yours etc.

TOBY JOYCE,

Balreask Manor,

Navan,

Co Meath.

A chara, - So, just like Saddam, the US has killed thousands of Iraqis. Just like Saddam it controls the country through military might. Just like Saddam it uses overwhelming force to suppress any opposition.

And now we see that, just like Saddam, its abused detainees in Saddam's prisons.

It seems increasingly clear that the main difference between the two regimes is that one definitely has weapons of mass destruction. - Is mise,

BRIAN MAC GABHANN,

Beal an Daingin,

Conamara,

Co Galway.