Madam, - Charles Krauthammer is a sort of journalistic shock-jock who presents specious arguments to a presumably bemused and incredulous Irish readership which for the most part politely ignores him. The fact that we may think little of his column is no reason to censor him. It gives us another view of the wider world and perhaps an insight into what readers in less fortunate countries may have to endure in greater volume with their breakfasts.
It is proper that you should continue to publish him. - Yours, etc,
NOEL CONLON, Beglieve, Bailieborough, Co Cavan.
Madam, Whatever about the veracity or otherwise of Charles Krauthammer's argument ( Opinion,February 5th), in which he absolves the US of all responsibility for the current situation in Iraq, I was truly shocked that he would be taken to task by Alan Barwise in the terms that he was (February 7th). It must be some time indeed since The Irish Timespublished a letter advocating totalitarian dictatorship as the most suitable form of government for any society.
Of course, Mr Barwise argues in favour of such governance not for Ireland, nor indeed for any Western society. He very reasonably points out that, in his opinion, the people of Iraq, being backward, tribal and sectarian, are completely unsuited to the complex form of government we sophisticates in the West have developed and would be far better off living under the rule of Saddam Hussein.
I'm sure the relatives of those Iraqis, Shia, Sunni and Kurd, who were slaughtered in their thousands by Saddam would be delighted to be back under Baathist rule. An added bonus, of course, would be that we in the West could quietly forget about the Iraqi people for another generation, as long as the oil kept flowing. - Yours, etc,
DAVID LEACH, Tower, Blarney, Co Cork.
Madam, I suspect that many of your readers' emotions echo those of Alan Barwise (February 7th) when faced with another outrageous Krauthammer article.
It is easy to empathise with Mr Barwise's bewilderment, but surely it is obvious that "Charles Krauthammer" is merely the clever nom de guerre of some hitherto unknown master satirist.
In point of fact, Mr Krauthammer makes me laugh so consistently and hysterically that I now have little need or reason to renew my subscription to Private Eye. - Yours, etc,
JOHN DYLAN O'DONOGHUE, Mount Oval Village, Rochestown, Co Cork.