Sir, – If we in Ireland have one thing for which to thank the far-right US vice-president Mike Pence, it is the brutal effrontery with which he has dismissed the myth of Irish neutrality and exposed the belligerent machinations of successive Irish governments.
On arrival at Shannon Airport (now a de facto US military base), Mr Pence praised "the security partnership" that has become "such an important hub for US forces deploying overseas" and for Ireland's "close coordination" in "US military operations around the world" ("US wants a Brexit deal that 'encourages stability', says Pence", News, September 2nd).
Given that these military operations have cost hundreds of thousands of lives and have maintained a condition of global instability from which only the military-industrial complex can profit, this partnership should cause us as much shame as the fact that our little island is the land of Mr Pence’s forefathers. – Yours, etc,
RAYMOND DEANE,
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Dublin 1.