Madam, - A kangaroo court sentenced Saddam Hussein to death. Now that he is gone many powerful people throughout the world will breath a sigh of relief and hope that some awkward questions will die with him. Questions like:
Who in Germany sold Hussein the gas with which he murdered millions of his fellow Iraqis?
How many millions of dollars did George Bush and his cronies make by selling Hussein the arms with which he slaughtered his Iraqi enemies?
Our own country isn't exactly without sin in all this. The present Taoiseach was part of a government which sold meat to feed the Iraqi army and when the deal fell through paid Larry Goodman millions of pounds in compensation.
When did the good guy suddenly become the bad guy? When did sound business judgment suddenly become doubtful?
The dictator may be dead but the questions linger on. We must continue to ask them. - Yours, etc,
PETER MURRAY, Abbeydorney, Co Kerry.
Madam, - President Bush has commented that he wished the execution of Saddam Hussein "had gone in a more dignified way". This is from the president of a country where a few weeks ago the execution of Mr Angel Diaz by lethal injection took 34 minutes to complete. Mr Diaz was administered a second injection because the first attempt was botched in such a way that the needle went clean through his veins and into the flesh of his arm.
Not that efficiency in executing people would be anything to boast about anyway; the death penalty in itself is a botched attempt to deliver justice.
Once again President Bush's attempt to gain the moral high ground is nauseating. - Yours, etc,
TOM RYAN, Harty's Quay, Rochestown, Co Cork.
Madam, - I am outraged that Fintan O'Toole's commentary on Saddam Hussein's execution video (Weekend Review, January 6th) was accompanied by a photograph from the video. I was well aware that I could have viewed this snuff movie at the touch of a button, but I made a conscious choice not to go there.
Instead, I opened the Weekend supplement and there it was, staring me in the face - I was given no choice in the matter. It was cleverly presented as a picture of a third party watching it, as if that somehow removed the reader from the same act. Maybe the next time you could use a more honest headline, such as "Snuff movie photo exclusive". - Yours, etc,
MARY REID, Clontarf Road, Dublin 3.