Madam, - After the attacks on September 11th, 2001, the words "We are all Americans now" resonated in minds. The horror of the event cut across borders and political affiliations to unite all reasonable people in rejection of everything those attacks represented.
In the context of the continuing horrific, murderous attacks on the Israeli civilian population, how long will it take before we are forced, perhaps against our own prejudices, to say, "We are all Israelis now"? Will it take suicide bombings in European cities before we are forced to wake up?
This thought forces me to admit that during the reprehensible anti-civilian bombing campaigns carried out by Republicans in Britain I should have thought, "I too am British now". I have found that it has been too easy for prejudice to cloud my judgment. No longer! There is no excuse for such horrific acts.
As Kevin Myers reminds us in his Irishman's Diary of September 10th, we in Ireland have our own "powerful and diseased undercurrents" to deal with. It is in our interests to do so. The Dublin and Monaghan bombings of 1974 brought home to us what it is like to have your civilian population deliberately targeted using the tactics of total war for political ends.
The implications of terrorists' global adoption of the tactics of total war have been exposed since 9/11. They are ever-spreading infamy and horror; the reduction of all civilian life to mere cannon fodder in pursuit of political aims; the total disruption of civil life and a descent into savagery. What choice do we have when faced with this option?
We must resist, even at heavy personal cost. Otherwise we are all lost. - Yours, etc.,
MICHAEL MEADE,
Shantalla Road,
Galway.