Madam, - I am impressed by the sheer scale of righteous indignation harboured by Richard Boyd Barrett.
If he is not protesting about bin charges in Dublin, he is to be found engaged in global anti-capitalist demonstrations. If he is not too busy marching against the redevelopment of Dun Laoghaire baths, he is in the national media rallying the troops against the "puppet" government in Iraq. As a strong supporter of the democratic right to protest, I congratulate Mr Boyd Barrett for having the courage of his convictions. I am no fan of George Bush either, but as someone much wiser than Dubya once said, "politics is the art of the possible".
What Mr Boyd Barrett seems to be espousing in his article in Tuesday's edition is a rapid disengagement of US troops from Iraq with no subsequent United Nations involvement. Surely even the extreme left realise that the likely outcome of such a policy would be civil war and the eventual establishment of a far-from-secular Islamic state. Mr Boyd Barrett's political stance seems a bit short on viable alternatives to those things he seems to despise most, namely market economics and the US as a global (if somewhat flawed) policeman.
Workable alternative policies make effective political opposition. Mr Boyd Barrett's unworkable policies were rejected in the recent local elections in the ward of Dun Laoghaire; perhaps he could try Havana next? - Yours, etc.,
RONAN FURLONG,
Churchtown,
Dublin.