Madam, - Last Thursday 215 people lost their lives in the worst single attack of the war in Iraq. By coincidence, on that day I received in my postbox the Winter 2006 edition of the Clare Fianna Fáil Newsletter.
On the back page of that document is a section entitled, "Working For Clare", which mentions the revenue generated for the county by Shannon Airport. A significant portion of that revenue comes from the continued use of Shannon by the US military for the war in Iraq - upwards of 250,000 soldiers a year pass through the airport.
Since the beginning of the invasion in March 2003 it is estimated, by reliable sources, that at least 200,000 people (including American soldiers) have been killed. Countless more have been maimed and injured. The Irish Government makes no secret of the fact that it has allowed, and continues to allow, the US to use Shannon because it is consistent with our ongoing policy of friendship towards a nation with which we have very close economic ties.
At the time of the invasion, President Bush claimed the war was about the removal of weapons of mass destruction and the bringing of peace to Iraq. The Irish Government supported this assertion. But no such weapons have ever been found and, rather than finding peace, Iraq now tethers on the brink of civil war with the distinct possibility of an American withdrawal from the region.
The Fianna Fáil representatives for the county and those other politicians who supported the invasion and the use of Shannon Airport may well be "working for Clare", but they show little regard for the many Iraqi and American victims of an unjust and wholly unwarranted war. - Yours, etc,
RICHARD BURKE, Springfield Court, Ennis.