Madam, - There is an extraordinary blind spot in Vincent Browne's column of July 28th. In what is broadly a very fair-minded approach, he seeks to understand "American anxiety" regarding the potential threat from Iraq, and asks if the US should be "precluded from all time for doing what it thinks it needs to do to defend itself".
It is a pity he does not extend the same courtesy to Israel, but instead summarily dismisses Israeli actions as "the abuse of the Palestinian population". While the anxiety of the US may be imaginary, the terror in Israel is too real. Israel, it appears, has no right to defend itself, no right to fear, no right to a fair hearing, but must be swatted aside like some irrelevant irritant without which we would all be better off. - Yours, etc.,
DARA O'SULLIVAN, Knocknacurra, Bandon, Co Cork.