ANTHONY MOORE,
Madam, - As protest grows against the resolve of the Bush administration to liberate the people of Iraq from despotism, the Irish people would do well to remember the precise moment, September 11th 2001, when America received her call to arms.
The attacks of that day were not merely attacks upon America, but upon every country which holds dear the values that inspired America's founding fathers and which continue to animate American political and civil life.
This State is founded on the Constitution of 1937, and those who framed that document, and the jurists who breathed life into it, sought with great success to infuse into Irish politics and law the great principles which illuminate the American Constitution: democracy, the rule of law, and civil and religious liberty.
Ireland was therefore as grievously wounded by those attacks as America.
Quite apart from that, Ireland's ties to America - ties of blood, commerce and culture - are unique and of especial importance to both our peoples. As Burke said, they are ties "which, though light as air, are as strong as links of iron".
This is wilfully overlooked by those who now castigate America and ascribe to her the qualities of a brutal, colonial power.
Let us not forget: America is a most tremendous force for good in the world. In the whole history of humanity, never has greater power reposed in a state, and no state has exercised its power more benignly.
Europe's liberation from Nazi tyranny by American troops, who voluntarily remained to check the advance of, and eventually to defeat, Bolshevik barbarism, is testament to that.
In our own time, America has sought to promote peace and reconciliation amongst the warring factions in Northern Ireland and the Middle East.
It now steps forth to rescue the torpid UN from irrelevance by calling to account the regime of Saddan Hussein, who continues to flout UN resolutions with impunity.
It is in our interests that America be successful in this enterprise and that Iraq not be able to exploit gaps in the phalanx of the international community. Now as then, our freedom is contingent upon America's political, economic and military pre-eminence. That is why, as American troops take up their positions in the desert, we should continue to offer our support for their great nation in peace and in war. - Yours, etc.,
ANTHONY MOORE,
Oldbridge,
Drogheda,
Co Louth.
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Madam, - I intuitively sense that the anti-war momentum marks a new beginning. Something marvellous is stirring in the collective consciousness. Suddenly the awareness is dawning that all of us, not only the people of Iraq, are being buried alive by webs of propaganda and lies.
Just in time, we are beginning to realise that tremendous energies are about to be released that could destroy the very roots from which our cultures and societies grew.
Through the ages, huge sacrifices have been made to place reason and love to the forefront of our endeavours, because without them moral confusion reigns.
President Bush and his cohorts have taken the moral high ground because they confuse might for right. They have attempted to smother everyday common sense reality with a mythical moral reality of their own making.
Their former comrade-in-arms is now a demon, and of course a threat to the world we inhabit. Therefore, within the mathematics of us versus them, good versus evil, he has to be destroyed. Bush is just short of saying "God wills it". In an effort to remove the bully from the playground he is prepared to atomise the entire school.
An irrational authority now prevails, drawing its power from self-interest, self-righteousness, myth-making, intimidation and fear. Criticism of this authority is met with unbridled condemnation, bullying and ridicule.
What is most sinister about this driving force is the erroneous assumption that human beings are infinitely malleable, they can be moulded to serve its betters without question, that we should be ready to witness the sacrifice of countless numbers of people on the altar of the ruling class.
We have a moral obligation to keep protesting against the dictatorship of the Bush administration. What is at stake here is more than just attempting to stop a so-called "inevitable" war, but whether or not human nature, common sense, love and compassion can prevail. We have to take sides; we have to choose in favour of humanity and enlightenment. - Yours, etc.,
MICHAEL CORRY,
Consultant Psychiatrist,
Rathdrum,
Co Wicklow.
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Madam, - Hats off to Hugo Hamilton for his knowledgeable account of Germany's opposition to US war plans against Iraq (Weekend, February 15th). Of particular interest is his statement that "the people of Iraq may want to liberate themselves from their tyrant, but when their country comes under attack a sense of patriotic duty will emerge that will be as clearly defined as that of the invaders".
This is a strong argument against invasion of Iraq, and does not "support the war party rather than the peace party", as claimed by Dr Geoffrey Roberts (February 18th).
A second strong argument is the reaction of the rest of the Arab world to a US-led invasion of Iraq. Not only do we risk open hostility between Arab nations and the West; a likely consequence will be a rise in anti-Western fanaticism in some parts of the Arab world, with a consequent increase in anti-Western terrorism - the most dangerous threat of all, as we have already discovered. - Yours, etc.,
CORMAC Ó RAIFEARTAIGH,
Ballymabin,
Dunmore East,
Co Waterford.